The discussion centers on the potential half-life of Unbihexium (element 120), suggesting it could last millions of years, although this remains uncertain. The cited articles, including a 2016 Chemistry World piece and a 2018 publication, highlight the challenges in producing stable isotopes of superheavy elements like Oganesson (element 118) and the limited availability of necessary precursors such as 48Ca and 249Cf. The production of these elements is costly and time-consuming, with only a few atoms of Oganesson produced to date. The feasibility of practical applications for long-living isotopes of Unbihexium is still under debate.
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Note that the cited article was published in January 2016 (and it reflects state of the art as of 2015), so it's at least 5 years old, and there has been no discoveries.swampwiz said:This article seems to say that the range of estimates go this high. This could be something that would actually stay around long enough to be of some use.
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news...e-next-row-of-the-periodic-table/9400.article
Indeed. Only a few atoms of oganesson have been produced and at great expense.mfb said:A long lifetime can't be ruled out but it doesn't look particularly likely.
A few nuclei of oganesson (118) have been produced in weeks of accelerator runs. The cross section for element 120 should be even smaller. What's the possible application for a few long-living nuclei?