
Element 114 on the brink of recognition - nreece
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19083-element-114-on-the-brink-of-recognition.html
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carsonbaker
Can someone comment on how the physicists detect if an element 114 atom sticks
to gold? Or how they observe the decay chain?

Also, is there an upper bound for synthesized elements? Will an element's
half-life become so short that it just can't exist, in that Zeno's-paradox
sort-of way?

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tow21
Not particularly Zeno's paradox-y, but yes.

You're trying to stick together big balls of protons and neutrons that wobble
about under all the internal stresses and strains, which are stabilized by the
surface tension of the nucleus. It's really very much like a drop of water, or
even a bubble.

While small bubbles are fairly stable, because the surface tension largely
overcomes any tendency to fall apart, large bubbles quickly break under the
stress of other forces - there's a practical upper limit to the size of bubble
you can make. The same thing is true, for the same reasons, with large nuclei.

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tocomment
I've always wondered why you can't just add more neutrons to make something
stable?

Also why can't a nucleus exist of only neutrons? It seems like the strong
force would hold it together, and I can't think of any forces pushing them
apart.

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billpg
Element zero... <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutronium>

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tocomment
I saw that page. It still doesn't really explain it except to say that one
neutron can only exist for 15 minutes by itself. But wouldn't putting multiple
neutrons together prevent that?

Or is it something about being around protons that prevents neutron decay?

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InclinedPlane
The strong force isn't like gravity, it's a 3 color force that is far more
complicated than any other. From what I understand, neutrons just don't stick
to each other (note that neutron stars are held together by gravity).

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ErrantX
More on this specific element for those so inclined:
<http://www.webelements.com/ununquadium/>

