skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Discovery of element 117: Super-heavy elements and the “island of stability”

Journal Article · · Separation Science and Technology

Element 117 (tennessine) joined the periodic table in November 2016. Two tennessine isotopes were synthesized by bombarding 249Bk from Oak Ridge National Laboratory with 48Ca ions at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, Russia, and 11 new heaviest isotopes of odd-Z elements were observed in subsequent decay chains. These isotopes exhibit increasing lifetimes as the closed nuclear shell at neutron number N = 184 is approached, providing evidence for the “island of stability” for super-heavy elements. Here, this article summarizes recent super-heavy element research with a focus on element 117, the role of actinide targets, and opportunities to synthesize elements 119 and 120.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Contributing Organization:
Actinide; berkelium; separations chemistry; super-heavy element; tennessine
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1408011
Journal Information:
Separation Science and Technology, Vol. 52, Issue 10; ISSN 0149-6395
Publisher:
Taylor & FrancisCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 8 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (19)

Fission barriers and probabilities of spontaneous fission for elements with Z≥ 100 journal December 2015
Synthesis of the isotopes of elements 118 and 116 in the Cf 249 and Cm 245 + Ca 48 fusion reactions journal October 2006
Heaviest nuclei from 48 Ca-induced reactions journal March 2007
Experiments on the synthesis of element 115 in the reaction Am 243 ( Ca 48 , x n ) 115 291 x journal February 2004
Spectroscopy of Element 115 Decay Chains journal September 2013
Ca 48 + Bk 249 Fusion Reaction Leading to Element Z = 117 : Long-Lived α -Decaying Db 270 and Discovery of Lr 266 journal May 2014
Experiment on the Synthesis of Element 113 in the Reaction 209 Bi( 70 Zn,n) 278 113 journal October 2004
Independent Verification of Element 114 Production in the Ca 48 + Pu 242 Reaction journal September 2009
Synthesis of superheavy nuclei in the 48 Ca + 244 Pu reaction: 288 114 journal September 2000
Synthesis of a New Element with Atomic Number Z = 117 journal April 2010
Experiments on the synthesis of superheavy nuclei Fl 284 and Fl 285 in the Pu 239 , 240 + Ca 48 reactions journal September 2015
New results on elements 111 and 112 journal June 2002
Measurements of cross sections for the fusion-evaporation reactions Pu 244 ( Ca 48 , x n ) 292 x 114 and Cm 245 ( Ca 48 , x n ) 293 x 116 journal May 2004
Production and Decay of the Heaviest Nuclei 1 293 , 294 17 and 1 294 18 journal October 2012
Actinide targets for the synthesis of super-heavy elements journal December 2015
Superheavy nuclei from 48Ca-induced reactions journal December 2015
Decay spectroscopy of element 115 daughters: Rg 280 Mt 276 and Mt 276 Bh 272 journal August 2015
The reaction 48Ca + 248Cm → 296116* studied at the GSI-SHIP journal May 2012
Names and symbols of the elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 (IUPAC Recommendations 2016) journal December 2016