DARMSTADT, Germany, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- German scientists say they've developed technology that might allow them to discover and study heavy, long-lived elements produced with particle accelerators.
The physicists at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, said besides the 92 naturally occurring elements, scientists have been able to create 20 additional chemical elements, six of which were discovered at the Helmholtz Center. The new elements, all produced by accelerators, are very short-lived, decaying in a split second.
Now the international team of scientists headed by Michael Block reports it was able to trap atoms of the element 102, nobelium, in an ion trap. That, they said, marked the first time a so-called super heavy element has been trapped, allowing them to measure the atomic mass of Nobelium with unprecedented accuracy.
"Precisely measuring the mass of nobelium with our … device was a successful first step," said Block. "Now, our goal is to improve the measuring apparatus so that we can extend our method to heavier and heavier elements …"
The research that included scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany; the German Universities of Greifswald, Heidelberg, Mainz and, Munich; Italy's Padua University; the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland; Granada University in Spain; and the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, both in Russia, is reported in the journal Nature.
