199 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
199 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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October 4, 1993
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ELEM02.ASC
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This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Rick Lawler.
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Date: 09-07-93 23:34
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From: Micheal Mace
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To: all
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Given the heated debate about Bob Lazar and his claims about the
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existence of element 115, I found a very interesting article in the
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paper. Just when we think we know everything about physics, those
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darn scientists keep running experiments that upset our "knowledge."
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<G> As Ming the Merciless, in Flash Gordon, says: "Puny Earthlings!"
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I have included the article in its entirety. Any and all typos are
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mine, since I typed this in by hand. And by the way, the Russian
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scientist's name _IS_ LAZARev - I'm not playing a funny here.
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From the:
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San Francisco Chronicle - Monday, September 6, 1993 - Pg A2
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SCIENTISTS MAKE ELEMENTAL DISCOVERY
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U.S.-Russian team sheds new light on theories of atomic stability
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by Charles Petit - Chronicle Science Editor
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Russian and American scientists are reporting that, using a powerful
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cyclotron in a lab north of Moscow, they may have found a way to
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break a scientific log jam blocking efforts to make elements beyond
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the 109 now known.
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The new work suggests that extremely heavy elements, virtually all
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of them man-made and never seen in nature, can be much more stable
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than believed, making it easier to extend the list of elements.
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The scientists did not make a new element but say they did make a
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handful of atoms of element 106 with an unprecedented number of the
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subatomic particles called neutrons in their centers. The atoms
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lasted as long as 30 seconds or even longer before spontaneously
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disintegrating in radioactive decay.
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Element 106, which has no formal name, was first reported nearly 20
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years ago by a team at the University of California's Lawrence
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Berkeley Laboratory, but the Berkeley version had a half life of
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less than a second and also had few neutrons in its core.
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Page 1
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"The goal was to be at the limits of nuclear physics, where
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theory is stretched to the extreme of what we can understand,"
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said Ronald Lougheed, a leader of the effort and chemist at the
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
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"What our results indicate is that things are much more stable
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out there than the usual theories would have predicted."
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An element's atomic number refers to the number of electrically
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charged protons in its nucleus. The nucleus also contains a similar
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or larger number of neutrons, which have about the same mass as
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protons but no electric charge.
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Since discovery of 106, German scientists have managed after great
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effort to create in the laboratory elements 107, 108, and 109, but
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each disintegrates in fractions of a second.
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Worry had grown that elements heavier than 109 might be impossible
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to make.
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If so, it would bring to an end an intellectual journey to discover
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all chemical elements permitted by the laws of nature. It is a
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quest begun by ancient civilizations such as the Greeks - who
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believed all things are combinations of earth, air, fire, and water.
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Modern science recognizes 92 natural elements, from hydrogen at
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number 1 through uranium at 92. Since the 1940s, 17 more elements
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have been created, including plutonium, neptunium, lawrencium, and
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einsteinium that are even heavier.
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Lougheed spoke during an interview at the laboratory that included
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two members of the Russian portion of the collaboration, Yuri
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Lazarev and Vladimir Utyonkov of the Joint Institute for Nuclear
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Research at Dubna, some 90 miles north of Moscow. The results were
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first described to a small meeting in Finland in the spring and are
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being submitted to publication in the journal Physical Review C.
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Lazarev is also leading a symposium on them this week at the
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Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.
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Although preliminary, the work inspires intense excitement among the
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relative handful of scientists who still pursue the hunt for ever-
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heavier, more exotic elements.
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"Boy, I hope they are right. This gives a whole new twist to it
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(theories of atomic stability). I would get busy right now if I
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had a machine to work with,"
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said Albert Ghiorso, a senior Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory physicist
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who has been a major figure in creation of man-made elements since
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the 1940s.
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There is no sure practical payoff to the research.
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Lazarev said, however, that the behavior of atomic nuclei under the
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extreme stress created by interaction of so many protons and
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neutrons will help scientists understand the nature of more common
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elements.
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Page 2
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The scientists base their conclusions on only a small bit of data.
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They ran the cyclotron, a form of subatomic particle accelerator,
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for 16 straight days in April. Its intense beam of neon nuclei
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slammed into a target of curium. The hope was that among the
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trillions of collisions, a few neon and curium nuclei would merge
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into an isotope of element 106 with 160 neutrons that some
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scientists hypothesized might be unusually stable.
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The evidence of success came from measuring decay products, called
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alpha rays, released by atoms as they decay. Only four alpha rays
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of the computed energy were detected. Factoring in the efficiency
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of the Livermore-supplied detector, the scientists estimate they
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made about 150 neutron-rich atoms of element 106.
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"We were at the extremes of what is possible with both U.S. and
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Russian physics," Lazarev said. "These experiments are terribly
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hard."
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The U.S. Department of Energy recently ordered a shutdown of the
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only remaining accelerator in Berkeley, the super-Hiliac, which
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would have been able to confirm or extend the work.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you have comments or other information relating to such topics
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as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the
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Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page.
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Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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Page 3
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