Science students everywhere could soon be memorising the name of a new addition to the periodic table, when a super-heavy element co-created by Australian researchers is added to the chart.
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The element was created in a German laboratory by a multinational team of physicists and chemists including Australian National University (ANU) researchers who lent their expertise and specialised equipment to the task.
Temporarily known as element 117 – after the number of protons in its nucleus – the new element's atoms match the heaviest ever observed and are 40 per cent heavier than lead.
It will soon have a catchier name when it is officially recognised by the international body of scientists behind the periodic table, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
Only four atoms of the super-heavy element were observed in the German lab and its radioactive decay meant they disappeared within one tenth of a second, but it was enough to independently corroborate the element's first observation in 2010.
The element's name is likely to have a Russian flavour when the team behind its 2010 creation make suggestions, but the director of ANU's heavy ion accelerator Professor David Hinde said naming the element was not the end game.
"The aim of science is not really to have naming rights of an element, it appeals to the imagination ... but we don't expect it to be called Canberrarium," he said.
"The most satisfying aspect [of ANU's involvement] is that the lead team in Germany were coming to our laboratory to investigate."
Although the miniscule size of the element created makes practical use unfeasible, the Australian researchers will focus on how the science behind the element's creation can lead to even heavier substances.
"The trick for us is to understand the quantum physics going on when the reaction takes place to form these new elements and try, if possible, to work out if we're doing it in the best way and how to proceed to elements 119 and 120," he said.
"It's a confirmation, it's not the pinnacle … what people want is to be the first to find evidence of a super heavy element."
The experiment was the first time the university has been involved in creating an element, but with the German laboratory 30 years in the making, it is unlikely ANU will redirect its specialised equipment to create the atoms in Canberra, Professor Hinde said.
"We don't have the right kind of accelerator or detector system to observe them here in Australia," he said.
"Each lab tends to specialise."
