Two new superheavy elements have been fleetingly created in a Russian lab. Each has many more protons and neutrons in their nuclei than any naturally occurring elements found on Earth.
The discovery will encourage researchers hoping to fill apparent gaps in the periodic table with “islands” of stable, massive atoms that may exhibit new chemical properties and atomic shapes.
The nuclei of the two new elements are crammed with 113 and 115 protons and reported in a paper in Physical Review C. The heaviest natural element, uranium, contains 92 protons, while the heaviest synthetic element officially confirmed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry is Darmstadtium, with 110 protons. Claims for elements with 111, 112, 114 and 116 protons are also being investigated.
The new elements were created at a particle accelerator in Dubna, Russia, by a team of researchers from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, US.