New element discovered
The element 112, discovered at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Centre for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt, has been officially recognized as a new element by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). IUPAC confirmed the recognition of element 112 in an official letter to the head of the discovering team, Professor Sigurd Hofmann.
The new element is approximately 277 times heavier than hydrogen, making it the heaviest element in the periodic table.
Already in 1996, Professor Sigurd Hofmann’s international team created the first atom of element 112 with the accelerator at GSI. In 2002, they were able to produce another atom. Subsequent accelerator experiments at the Japanese RIKEN Discovery Research Institute produced more atoms of element 112, unequivocally confirming GSI’s discovery.
To produce element 112 atoms, scientists accelerate charged zinc atoms — zinc ions for short — with the help of the 120 m long particle accelerator at GSI and “fire” them onto a lead target.
The zinc and lead nuclei merge in a nuclear fusion to form the nucleus of the new element.
Its so-called atomic number 112, hence the provisional name ‘element 112,’ is the sum of the atomic numbers of the two initial elements: zinc has the atomic number 30 and lead the atomic number 82.
An element’s atomic number indicates the number of protons in its nucleus. The neutrons that are also located in the nucleus have no effect on the classification of the element. It is the 112 electrons, which orbit the nucleus, that determine the new element’s chemical properties. — Our Bureau
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