Scientists Near Breakthrough in Creating Heaviest Element Ever

The marvels of science continue to astonish. Physicists are now a step closer to creating the heaviest element ever known, thanks to a recent breakthrough at an American university.

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have successfully produced two atoms of livermorium, element 116, by using a titanium particle beam. This achievement marks a significant milestone in the quest to synthesize the elusive element 120.

The breakthrough was announced at the Nuclear Structure 2024 conference. Berkeley Lab, which has discovered 16 of the 118 known elements, is at the forefront of this pioneering research.

How was livermorium produced?
The experiment was conducted using their heavy-ion accelerator, the 88-inch Cyclotron. The detailed results, soon to be published in an upcoming paper on arXiv and submitted to Physical Review Letters, highlight this as a critical discovery in the pursuit of element 120.

“This reaction had never been demonstrated before, and proving its feasibility was crucial before attempting to create element 120,” explained Jacklyn Gates, a nuclear scientist at Berkeley Lab leading the initiative. “The creation of a new element is an extremely rare event. It’s thrilling to be part of this process and see a promising path forward.”

Creating an atom of element 120 would be an extraordinary accomplishment. However, the successful production of livermorium indicates that with continued research, this ambitious goal is achievable.

“We needed nature to cooperate, and fortunately, it did,” said Reiner Kruecken, director of Berkeley Lab’s Nuclear Science Division. “We estimate that synthesizing element 120 will take about ten times longer than producing element 116. It’s a challenging task, but now it seems feasible.”