New Element, 115, Confirmed

[Vegosiux]

All I will say is that I hope this new element will find tolerance and acceptance among its peers and isn't a victim of bullying from all the other longer lasting elements.

Oxygen and Carbon tried to gang up on Element 115 but he ran away. Oxygen and Carbon yelled after him "Oh, we are so going to get you tomorrow!" but Element 115 laughed at them "Hah! No you won't, not with my half-life!"

Also, on topic, well, I wonder where they'll take the research next? Trying to get to 122 or so and see if those indeed would be more stable?

 

[JakobBloch]

Well someone already stole my unobtainium joke, so I'll go ahead and ask my question instead.

Now I did alright in chemistry, got a B. That said, I only got a B because the teacher made the class very easy with how he graded and such. So could someone tell me where the extra protons are coming from in this situation?

Swedish scientists projected a beam of calcium ions, made up of 20 protons, at a thin film of americium, consisting of 90 protons. When the two collided, the atomic nuclei combined to produce a few short-lived atoms with 115 protons.

Now I failed calculus, but doesn't 20 + 90 = 110? Obviously I've gotta be missing something here, and would appreciate a "layman's terms" explanation on where these extra protons are coming from to give it 115.

Don't hang me up on this but I am guessing the extra protons and electrons are coming from neutrons that get split. Apparently when smash neutrons into each other with enough force they sometimes split into a proton and an electron (and a neutrino but as far as I understand that thing just flies off as radiation). So if 5 of the 152(ish) neutrons in the collision split... tada Elerium 115.

Actually, I think it is a typo. From Wikipedia: "Americium (/ˌæməˈrɪsiəm/ am-ə-ris-ee-əm) is a transuranic radioactive chemical element that has the symbol Am and atomic number 95." It has 95 protons.

That sounds far more plausible... especially since 90 is thorium. I bow to the better explanation.

 

[Not Matt]

okay. now is this element gonna do something interesting or will it just be another pointlessly difficult name i have to remember because some teacher said so? actually. scratch that, i don't think teacher will be teaching me it because that would mean they would have to replace all the old element posters and they have better things to spend the schools budget on

 

[Pyramid Head]

Right, so Elerium-115 has finally been discovered. I look forward to some day shooting a squirrel with a plasma pistol.

 

[mad825]

So in other words, we've discovered a man-made element? I was hoping for more....

It could be naturally made in space, back when all the heavier elements were being made by super novas and planets smashing into each other. But since there is an extremely fast rate of decay it could just fall apart immediately, or we haven't found it yet on a foreign planet.

As far as the scientific community are concerned: it's man-made.

You can get plutonium naturally however the sources will be in trace amounts.