The periodic table could soon welcome a new
element — it's currently unnamed but known
as the super heavy element 117.
You might want to sit down — it's time for
a science lesson.
"It's really exciting because it's the generation
of new matter.
It's almost like a chill goes up your spine,
it's like wow, something new, something really
exciting.
It's almost akin to a Nobel Prize."
(Via YouTube / Periodic Videos)
Element 117 is synthetic and was first created
in small amounts back in 2010.
A little background — any element with an
atomic number higher than uranium's 92 is
unstable.
Those higher elements undergo a decay process,
unlike those that naturally occur.
(Via Wikimedia Commons / Armtuk)
In order to create element 117, researchers
have to use accelerator technologies to cause
specific atoms to fuse together.
​"Calcium ions are accelerated to high velocity
toward the target of Berkelium atoms... only
one of billions fuse with target to create
element 117."
(Via Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
And that is how the super heavy element is
created.
But why should we care about the elusive 117?
To put it plainly, one researcher said, "The
successful experiments on element 117 are
an important step on the path to the production
and detection of elements situated on the
'island of stability' of super-heavy elements."
(Via E Science News)
As a writer for LiveScience puts it, "If such
an 'island' exists, the elements in this theoretical
region of the periodic table could be extremely
long-lived — capable of existing for longer
than nanoseconds — which scientists could
then develop for untold practical uses."
So basically, at this point, the implications
from the discovery of 117 are endless.
Its status as an element will soon be decided
by a committee from the International Union
of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
