New elements Copernicium and the path to glory

Darmstad, the birthplace of the invention of the new element Copernicium, is only about 4 to 5 hours away from Paris. But complicated visa procedures are hindering people from writing this article again, even just once more and just to be able to share the great joy with German colleagues . This article is a blessing. Happy to the owners of that famous scientific feat.

Full glory of an invention

The latest superheavy element with atomic number 112 from now on has the official name Copernicium with the symbol Cn (see Figure 1), ie the 112th cell in the periodic table of chemical elements now has its owner.

Figure 1: The 112th plot of the elemental periodic table has a master.The name of the chemical element Copernicium and the chemical symbol Cn of the new element 112 (Artwork) was decided by the IUPAC to commemorate the anniversary of February 19, 2010, by Copernic astronomers.

From now on, invent the 6th super heavy element of German scientists at GSI Heavy Ion Research Center (City of Darmstad, Germany), led by Dr. Sigurd Hofmann, and experiment on nuclear reactions forming nuclei 112 with a mass of 277 (see figure 2) has officially entered the history of world science.

Figure 2: Describing the process of forming Cn nucleus: Zn70 'ammunition' is fired at Pb208 'beer' nucleusThe nucleus 112 * formed, then immediately released a neutron to form a new nucleus Cn277.The Cn277 nucleus only lives about 2 parts per thousand seconds and emits a series of alpha particles to turn into descendant nuclei.

From the first experiment to find the nucleus 112, February 9, 1996, the name Copernicium with the official symbol Cn was not until 14 years later, on February 19, 2010, only the Scientific Power Organization, Hiep IUPAC International Basic Chemistry and Applications Association, officially recognizes the decision.

February 19, 2010 is the 5th anniversary of the Polish astronomer Nicolai Copernic (1474-1543). That increased the significance of this famous late scientist honor, an eternal name attached to one of the 112 elements in the periodic table of chemical elements.

The selection of titles for element 112 was reported in the letter of the inventor's proposal with Sigurd Hofmann and IUPAC senders after they were assigned such glorious tasks.

In the letter, they proposed the element name Copernicium with the symbol Cp with arguments: To honor an astronomer, the founder of the deeply revolutionary heliocentric theory of the era, but was subjected to injustice and bitterness, to see the book at the last moment of his life - his work just printed. It is Copernic works that have a great influence on the political thinking and philosophy of humanity. His view of heliocentrism was also used by 20th-century physicists to describe the structure of atoms and nuclei. Today's honors clearly work to enhance the role of empirical research in the background of modern science.

In addition, German inventors also consider many subtle things. As the author of a series of six consecutive elements, they named the top three modern physicists named for the three elements 107, 109 and 111 that are Bohrium (symbol Bh), Meitnerium (Mt) and Roentgenium ( Rg). Particularly for two even elements, 108 and 110 are named Hassium (Hs) and Darmstadtium (Ds) in honor of the city of Darmstadt and the state of Hassen, the cradle of Germany's leading Science Center and nurturing inventions. great for human science.

Therefore, this time taking the name of a medieval scientific celebrity for element 112 is the smartest and most reasonable choice .

The IUPAC accepted the inventors' proposal, except for one thing: replacing the symbol Cp with the Cn notation for good reason, that the Cp symbol was used long ago in chemistry to indicate billions heat of a substance.

With the IUPAC's decision to accept the name Copernicium for the invention of element 112, German scientists in Darmstad, apparently, have completed the path to full glory.

. The path is not only 'rose'

The glorious scientists in GSI had to wait for 14 years from the first 112 nucleus synthesis experiment (1996), another 5 months after the proposal proposed a new element name. IUPAC placed on the international 'judge' table.

However, to ensure accuracy and transparency in science, and to ensure the value of honoring superior scientific achievements and outstanding inventors, such a wait is needed. set.

In the history of science, many inventors have been exposed to light. Right in the field of studying super-heavy elements we are concerned, and only in about ten years, some scientists at the World No.1 Research Center Berkley made mistakes when rushing. announced the discovery of the new element 118, to be exposed and to pay dearly after different laboratories around the world proved that the scientific results were fake.

Therefore, since element 112 (Copernicium) has been widely reported, during the past 14 years, many famous laboratories in the world have conducted the most cautious experiments to test , evaluate the experimental results of German scientists.

For example, in 1998, scientists at the Flerov Nuclear Reaction Laboratory, at the famous Nuclear Research Institute in Dubna (Russia), experimentally built element 112 on a heavy particle accelerator. theirs with 'bullets' and other 'beer'. And the result was the 112 nucleus with mass 282-285. Although the experiment is not quite the same as in Darmstad, the synthesis of the 112 nucleus in Dubna also proved the existence of this element, in other words, the experiment indirectly confirmed the correctness of the invention. of scientists at GSI center.

In particular, in 2004, Japanese scientists at RIKEN Research Institute (Tokyo) conducted experiments almost repeating German scientists' experiments (ie using Zn and Pb beer bullets) and collecting get the right result. Data of two Japanese and German research centers are similar. This is the most important experiment that verifies the integrity of the invention in GSI directly.

The German scientists themselves, in 2005-2007, on their SHIP laboratory equipment, repeated experiments with other 'bullets and beer', creating a new reaction 48Ca + 238U. Interestingly, they themselves asserted themselves by the results of the experiment to find the nucleus 112, only in mass, not 277 but 283.

The above objective evaluation fully meets the strict criteria set for many years, giving IUPAC enough confidence and grounds to grant the noble and full honor to German scientists.

Figure 3: Owner of the new super heavy element Copernicium.

A new element with a specific 'form' (see Appendix) was born, entered the scientific life, and then went to the textbook page .

Appendix: SOME BASIC PARAMETERS OF COPERNICIUM

Name: Copernicim
Symbol: Cn
Atomic number: 112
Volume number: 277, 283, 285 .
Chemical characteristics:
- Group in the Regional Agency: 12
- Cycle in BTHNT: 7
- Color: Unknown, but more likely to be silvery or gray
- Rating: Metal
Physical characteristics:
- Radiation (unstable), half-life of about 200 microseconds
- Decomposition of alpha particles

Epilogue

During the time of GSI scientists waiting for the final decision of IUPAC to name their brainchild, in September 2009, the writer of this article had the opportunity to visit the GSI laboratory, meet a the number of scientists who have participated in new elemental inventions.

Unfortunately, we do not meet the leading scientist in the field of super heavy element research, GS. Sigurd Hofmann. Colleagues said he was going abroad. Although retired, he is still a visiting professor at the university, and a GSI collaborator in a new science project.

In a recent article on GSI Center and on the study of new elements on heavy ion beams there, I showed confidence 'this spring, German scientists at GSI have the right to hold high. head 'with full glory on element 112.

And that has now come true. IUPAC's decision honors both the rightful owners of the Copernecium element, the atmosphere at GSI's World Science Center, Darmstadt must still be hot . Only regret that I cannot return here, at this.

Tran Thanh Minh (article from Paris)