Particle Accelerator Reveals A New Type of Atomic Nucleus

Finland's University of Jyvaskyla has an announcement: an experiment performed in its accelerator lab "has succeeded in producing a previously unknown atomic nucleus." Dubbed "190-Astatine," it's made from 85 protons and 105 neutrons..The nucleus is the lightest isotope of astatine discovered to date. Astatine is a fast-decaying, and therefore rare element. It has been estimated that in the Earth's crust, there is no more than one tablespoon of astatine... The new isotope was produced in the fusion of 84Sr beam particles and silver target atoms. The isotope was detected among the products by using the detectors of RITU recoil separator... "The studies of new nuclei are important for understanding the structure of atomic nuclei and the limits of known matter," says Doctoral Researcher Henna Kokkonen from the Department of Physics, University of Jyvaskyla.

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