![element 115 element 115](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GJUsVqeipgw/maxresdefault.jpg)
So far, essentially all the transuranium elements have been discovered at four laboratories: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States (elements 93–101, 106, and joint credit for 103–105), the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia (elements 102 and 114–118, and joint credit for 103–105), the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany (elements 107–112), and RIKEN in Japan (element 113). See also: Timeline of chemical element discoveries The naming of transuranic elements may be a source of controversy.ĭiscovery and naming of transuranium elements Transuranic elements that have not been discovered, or have been discovered but are not yet officially named, use IUPAC's systematic element names. Einsteinium is the heaviest element that has been produced in macroscopic quantities. As of 2008, the cost of weapons-grade plutonium was around $4,000/gram, and californium exceeded $60,000,000/gram.
![element 115 element 115](http://www.chemicool.com/elements/images/260-element-115-113.jpg)
Heavy transuranic elements are difficult and expensive to produce, and their prices increase rapidly with atomic number. Some heavier elements in this series, around atomic numbers 110–114, are thought to break the trend and demonstrate increased nuclear stability, comprising the theoretical island of stability. There are exceptions, however, including several isotopes of curium and dubnium. The half lives of these elements show a general trend of decreasing as atomic numbers increase. 238U + n → 239U → 239Np → 239Pu).Īll elements heavier than plutonium are entirely synthetic they are created in nuclear reactors or particle accelerators. These two elements are generated from neutron capture in uranium ore with subsequent beta decays (e.g. Trace amounts of neptunium and plutonium form in some uranium-rich rock, and small amounts are produced during atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons.
![element 115 element 115](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gsU3A9SFen4/hqdefault.jpg)
They are all radioactive, with a half-life much shorter than the age of the Earth, so any primordial atoms of these elements, if they ever were present at the Earth's formation, have long since decayed. The exceptions are elements 43, 61, 85, and 87 all four occur in nature, but only in very minor branches of the uranium and thorium decay chains, and thus all save element 87 were first discovered by synthesis in the laboratory rather than in nature (and even element 87 was discovered from purified samples of its parent, not directly from nature).Īll the elements with higher atomic numbers have been first discovered in the laboratory, with neptunium and plutonium later also discovered in nature. Of the elements with atomic numbers 1 to 92, most can be found in nature, having stable isotopes (such as hydrogen) or very long-lived radioisotopes (such as uranium), or existing as common decay products of the decay of uranium and thorium (such as radon). Extremely radioactive elements: the most stable isotope has half-life less than several minutes.