If this element is confirmed, even if it is 1:10^-12 ratio with thorium, I
suspect supernova would be the source.
These are found on earth and are not subject to quite so many cosmic rays
That they are found in thorium, an already heavy element seems to suggest this
may well be the case
To still be present on the earth would require them to be unusually stable for
a large element. If this element falls into the 'magic number' category it
would also suggest a supernova source if found in earth rocks.
Assuming the Presolar nebula was seeded by a supernova, the formation would
have been quite swift (~10^8 years). Would that be enough for cosmic ray
seeding? If it were, then we should likely find a relative abundance of this
new element in meteorites as they have a greater exposure to cosmic rays
(constant burial depth over billions of years, no atmosphere to absorb rays,
etc) I wonder if there are ever likely to be any plans to conduct this search.
If Mendeleev could predict the properties of elements in the 1890s surely we
can suggest a way to isolate this element in the 2000s. Either to confirm or
deny its existence.
R McC
An attempt to concentrate his element should be made to either confirm or deny
its existence.
--- On Tue, 4/29/08, Sterling K. Webb [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
From: Sterling K. Webb [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Superheavy element found in nature
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 9:04 AM
Superheavy Fans!
If the Unbibium atom was made in your
Super Supernova, it would have to be the
result of lighter elements with extra neutron
goodness being squeezed together hard enough
to merge them into unbibium by a kind of
condensate fusion. Now, supernovae happen
because stars can't even fuse dinky little 26Fe:
it tries; it fails; the failed star collapses -- Boom!
A supernova is the sound of one hand clapping.
Maybe that's the prime source of Superheavies,
but maybe not.
One of the best methods for producing the
Superheavies is to bombard an Already-Heavy with
rare neutron-rich isotopes. 20Calcium-48 is a favorite--
and it's cheap -- only $200,000 a gram, a price to
make a meteorite dealer drool...
Here's an very clear and understandable article
about Superheavies by an expert, Yuri Oganessian:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/19751
Oganessian is the discoverer of Element 118, temp
name ununoctium.
But, there are other ways to get a really energetic
odd isotope -- cosmic rays. Ion accelerators are a
mere 90% of lightspeed, but cosmic ray nuclei are
in the 99.999...% class.
So, they claim to have found the Unbibium atoms
in a deposit of thorium, whoops! in 90Thorium-232.
All we need is a cosmic ray that just happens to be
one of the thirty-odd isotopes of Germanium, like
32Ge-60:
90Th-232
+
32Ge-60
=
122Ubb-292
The 32Ge-60 atom would have to have just the right
speed to be able to merge with the thorium without exciting
it so much it just goes to pieces, of course, but cosmic
rays are variable in energy and are made up of every kind
of nuclei from the lightest to the heaviest elements, so
there's some 32Ge-60 out there somewhere.
If some Superheavies are formed by cold fusion
(that's
what they call it -- it's not the other cold
fusion), then
meteorites might be a better place to look for the
naturally
occurring Superheavies than Earth rocks. The cosmic ray
exposure of meteorites is greater, so the minute abundance
of Superheavies might be too.
If I were going hunting with a mass spectrometer, first
thing I'd do is buy a bag of some NWA with thorium in
its bulk composition. If what they found is unbibium,
it's
a light isotope; the normal atomic weight of
unbibium
would be 324, not 292. It's short 32 neutrons. They
also
say it could be an isotope of elements 124 or 126. Oddly,
one theory of how to align the extended periodic table
place cerium, thorium, and unbibium in an extended
group.
What we want is to find (a big chunk of) is the
elements
on the Island of Stability that are long-lived,
super-dense,
super-strong, and have other strange properties we can
exploit!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability
Here's an extended Periodic Table that shows all the
elements that don't exist, but may exist afterall!
http://www.apsidium.com/ext_pt/expertab.pdf
Sterling K. Webb
--
- Original Message -
From: Darren Garrison
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 12:14 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Superheavy element found in
nature
http://arxivblog.com/?p=385
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0804/0804.3869.pdf
This is meteorite related in that, well, if this finding
pans out, then the
element has to be supernova
