ELEMENT 114


114

Three atoms of element 114 were produced and detected in June 1999 by a team working at The Lawrence Berkely Laboratory in America as a by-product in the alpha decay of element 118 which they had just made.

By crashing a beam of krypton-86 atoms into a target of lead-208 atoms several excited compound nuclei were produced. These almost immediately emit a neutron becoming atoms of element 118 with 118 protons and 175 neutrons, being atoms of the isotope 118-293. Less than a millisecond later the isotope 119-293 decays by alpha decay into an atom of element 116, the isotope 116-289. This isotope then decayed by alpha decay into element 114, the isotope 114-285.

Another group of researchers succedded in manufacturing 114-289 by bombarding a plutonium-244 target with calcium-48 ions wich produced a compound nucleus which then emitted three neutrons and becoming 114-289.

The nuclear reaction producing the Element 114 isotope 114Uuq289 containing 175 neutrons with a 30 second half-life is provided below:

94Pu244  +  20Ca48   →   114UUQ289  +  30n1


The nuclear reaction producing the Element 114 isotope 114Uuq288 containing 174 neutrons with a half-life of 2 seconds is provided below:

94Pu244  +  20Ca48   →   114UUQ288  +  40n1


Along with carbon, silicon, germanium, tin and lead, element 114 belongs to group 14.

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