Relativistic Quantum Chemistry

Scientists from Massey University in New Zealand, the University of Mainz in Germany, Sorbonne University in France, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) discuss the limit of the periodic table and revising the concept of the "island of stability" with recent advances in superheavy element research. Their work first appeared in Nature Reviews Physics.

Two atoms of element 116 demonstrate path to hunt for element 120 and extend the periodic table

An international research team gained new insights into the chemical properties of the superheavy element flerovium—element 114—at the accelerator facilities of the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt. The measurements show that flerovium is the most volatile metal in the periodic table. Flerovium is thus the heaviest element in the periodic table that has been chemically studied.

The ancients were fascinated by mercury, but it took filling out the periodic table to reveal how unusual it is.

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32356697 Points: 1 # Comments: 0

Scientists from The University of Manchester have managed to successfully make a transuranium complex where the central metal, here neptunium, forms a multiple bond to just one other element. Enabling study of such a bonding interaction in isolation for the first time is a key breakthrough for nuclear waste clean-up.

The element bismuth can "float" between magnets due to magnetic levitation. What's the science behind this phenomenon?

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36116129 Points: 1 # Comments: 0

Black holes seem like the stuff of science fiction, but the reality is even more peculiar