A team of scientists from Berkeley Lab reported some of the properties of element 99 in the periodic table called “Einsteinium”, named after Albert Einstein. It was discovered in 1952 in the remains of the first hydrogen bomb (the detonation of a thermonuclear device called “Ivy Mike” in the Pacific Ocean). Since its discovery, scientists have failed to perform many experiments with it because it is difficult to create and is extremely radioactive. Therefore, very little is known about this element.
With this new study published in the journal Nature last week, for the first time researchers have been able to characterize some of the properties of the element.
Discovering the element
When Ivy Mike was detonated on November 1, 1952, as part of a test at a remote location on the island called Elugelab on Eniwetok Atoll in the South Pacific, it produced an explosion about 500 times more destructive than the explosion that occurred. the Nagasaki. . Subsequently, the material from this explosion was sent to Berkeley, California for analysis, which was examined by Gregory Choppin, Stanley Thompson, Albert Ghiorso and Bernard Harvey, who within a month had discovered and identified more than 200 atoms of the new element. .
According to a podcast led by Chemistry World, the discovery of the element was not disclosed for at least three years and it was first suggested that the element be named after Einstein in the Physical Review in 1955.
What did the researchers find?
The scientists worked with less than 250 nanograms of artificial element, which was manufactured at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flow Isotope Reactor, which is one of the few places in the world capable of producing einsteinium.
Specifically, the team worked with einsteinium-254, one of the most stable isotopes of the element, which has a half-life of 276 days. The most common isotope of the element, einsteinium 253 has a half-life of 20 days.
Due to its high radioactivity and the short half-life of all einsteinium isotopes, even if the element was present on Earth during its formation, it has certainly degraded. This is why it cannot be found in nature and must be manufactured using very precise and intense processes.
Therefore, so far, the element has been produced in very small quantities and its use is limited, except for the purposes of scientific research. Also, the element is not visible to the naked eye and after it was discovered, it took over nine years to produce it enough to be seen with the naked eye.
“In part, the tiny amounts of Einsteinium that have been made reflect the difficulty of producing it. But it also receives the sad reward of not having known uses. Indeed, there is no reason to make einsteinium, except for a reference point on the path to producing something else. It’s an element without a role in life, “said the Chemical World podcast.
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For recent research, using an accurate x-ray produced by a particle accelerator, scientists were able to examine this element to find out how it binds to atoms. By studying this atomic arrangement, scientists can find out interesting chemical properties of other elements and isotopes that could be useful for nuclear and radiopharmaceutical production, said Rebecca Aberge, who led the study in a statement.