UNUNQUADIUM

'Ununquadium' (IPA: ), or 'eka-lead', is the temporary name of a radioactive chemical element in the periodic table that has the temporary symbol Uuq and has the atomic number 114.

Contents

History

Synthesis

Synthesis of Ununquadium-298

(more) Stable ununquadium

See also

References

External links

History

The discovery of ununquadium in December 1998 was reported in January 1999 by scientists at Dubna (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research) in Russia.^[1] The same team produced another isotope of Uuq three months later^[2] and confirmed the synthesis in 2004 and 2006.
In 2004 in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research the synthesis of this element was confirmed by another method (the chemical identifying on final products of decay of element).
Ununquadium is a temporary IUPAC systematic element name. Some have termed it ''eka-lead'', as its properties are conjectured to be similar to those of lead. It is expected to be a soft, dense metal that tarnishes in air, with a melting point around 200 degrees Celsius.

Synthesis

Ununquadium can be synthesized by bombarding plutonium-244 targets with calcium-48 heavy ion beams.

Synthesis of Ununquadium-298

Manufacturing ununquadium-298 would be very difficult, because nuclei summing to 114 protons and 184 neutrons are not available in weighable quantities.
However it may be possible to generate ununquadium-298, if nuclear transfer reactions can be achieved. One of these reactions may be
:$,^\{204\}\_\{80\}mathrm\{Hg\}\; +\; ,^\{136\}\_\{54\}mathrm\{Xe\}\; ,\; o\; ,^\{298\}\_\{114\}mathrm\{Uuq\}\; +\; ,^\{40\}\_\{20\}mathrm\{Ca\}\; +\; 2\; ;\; ^1\_0mathrm\{n\}\; ;$

(more) Stable ununquadium

According to the island of stability theory, some nuclides around the area of 114 protons and 184 neutrons (i.e. isotope Uuq-298) can be expected to be relatively stable in comparison to the surrounding nuclides. Ununquadium does not occur naturally, so it is entirely synthesized in laboratories. All isotopes of ununquadium synthesized so far are neutron-poor. This means that they contain significantly fewer neutrons than 184, which is one of the magic number of neutrons that is believed to make the isotope more stable. Neutron-poor also indicates that the isotopes decay either by spontaneous fission producing a variety of radionuclides, positron emission or electron capture to yield element ununtrium. So far, all three that have been made have undergone spontaneous fission in the first .0012 milliseconds, and therefore have never been able to be studied.

See also

★ Island of stability: Ununquadium – Unbinilium – Unbihexium

★ Lead

★ Periodic table (extended)

★ Isotopes of ununquadium

References

1. Synthesis of Superheavy Nuclei in the ⁴⁸Ca + ²⁴⁴Pu Reaction, , Yu. Ts., Oganessian, Physical Review Letters, 1999
2. Synthesis of nuclei of the superheavy element 114 in reactions induced by ⁴⁸Ca, , , Oganessian, Nature, 1999

External links

★ WebElements.com - Uuq

★ Apsidium - Ununquadium

★ First postcard from the island of nuclear stability

★ Second postcard from the island of stability