Scientists move closer to discovering new element in the periodic table

After successfully attempting to synthesize the element with atomic number 116 (livermorium) using a titanium beam, scientists are now ready to try to come up with a new element in the periodic table: element 120.

If discovered, the element with atomic number 120 would be the heaviest atom ever created and would be in the eighth row of the periodic table. (The atomic number represents the number of protons in an atom; which, added to the number of neutrons, results in the mass of this atom.)

Researchers from the Heavy Elements Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US presented the results of the experiment at the Nuclear Structure 2024 conference. The scientific paper is available on arXiv and was submitted to the journal Physical Review Letters.

The “discovery” of superheavy elements

This is the first time that scientists have managed to create atoms of a superheavy element — all those with an atomic number above 100 — using a beam of uranium. Even though the study uses the word “discovery,” superheavy elements do not exist in nature and can only be synthesized in a laboratory.

To create a superheavy element, scientists “clash” two lighter elements together that combine to have the desired number of protons for the final atom. In other words, combining an element with atomic number 40 with one with atomic number 60 would result in an element with atomic number 100.

To achieve this in practice, researchers typically use a calcium beam (which has 20 protons) to bombard another target element. This was the first time that a titanium beam (with 22 protons) was used — and successfully — to manufacture superheavy elements.

Titanium was chosen to form the new beam of atoms with a higher atomic number, as the target elements with atomic number 100 (fermium) or more are very unstable and have a very short half-life, which would make a successful experiment impossible.

Scientists at Berkeley Lab have managed to make two atoms of livermorium, element 116, using a titanium beam over 22 days of operations at the lab’s heavy-ion accelerator, the 88-Inch Cyclotron.

The search for a new element

Now that there is evidence that the titanium beam works to synthesize superheavy elements, scientists want to create a new element for the periodic table, with 120 protons.

“When we try to make these incredibly rare elements, we are at the absolute limit of human knowledge and understanding, and there is no guarantee that the physics will work the way we expect. Creating element 116 with titanium validates that this production method works, and we can now plan our search for element 120,” explained Jennifer Pore, a researcher in the Heavy Elements Group at Berkeley Lab.

To try to synthesize element 120, about 6 trillion titanium ions per second will need to hit the target element (californium), which is thinner than a piece of paper.

Additionally, operators of the lab’s heavy-ion accelerator need to fine-tune the beam so that it has just the right amount of energy. Too little energy and the isotopes won’t fuse into a heavy element; too much energy and the titanium will explode into nuclei in the target element.

Researchers have not yet set a date to begin trying to produce element 120 — once it begins, it could take years to produce any atoms of the new element, if it ever happens at all.

“We’ve shown that we have a facility capable of doing this project, and that the physics appear to make it feasible,” said Reiner Kruecken, director of Berkeley Lab’s Nuclear Science Division. “Once we have our target, shielding and engineering controls in place, we’ll be ready to take on this challenging experiment.”

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