Talk:Synthetic element

About the lack of sources

Since this is an article containing mostly public domain common knowledge scientific facts, it doesn't really need sources for the most part. Where it does need them is on the specific details about when and how various elements have been synthesized--particularly in regards to who created them. Since all of the elements in the List section have their own articles, one should be able to find and copy the necessary relevant citations from them. I'd do it myself, but it's a tedious process--involving at least 30 articles--so I'm letting somebody else do the sourcing. Any takers? RobertGustafson (talk) 04:09, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

History Section Should Be Expanded

There should be a comprehensive account of how and when all of at least the major synthetic elements were synthesized. I'd do it myself, but that requires extracting info from several other articles, and I don't have enough interest in this article to endure the tedium of that. Hopefully somebody will do that for me. RobertGustafson (talk) 19:16, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

what are some uses and dangers of synthetic elements?

I haven't been able to find a good answer for this anywhere else on here, but why do scientists continue to try to synthesize new, heavier elements? Seems like a lot of nonproductive effort since they all seem to disintegrate immediately after forming. Even if they stumbled upon a stable isotope and produced enough of it to see with the naked eye, chances are it wouldn't be anything special, just another element. What's wrong with the elements we have already? --72.85.16.46 02:36, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

I KNOW!!!!! i never got why scienitsts want to make another element. they have no biological role, can possibly kill.....etc...seriously, is this where the money goes?Angelofdeath275 21:20, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World has a number of arguments for "pure research" nicely summarized for consumption. Among them is that the value of pure research, as opposed to industry research (which would include stuff with easily marketable & understood ends, like faster computers or GMOs) is in discovering completely new things. Without, for instance, research into what makes cells reproduce, the whole GMO gig would never have happened. Without curiosity as to what exactly those sparks are, we wouldn't have electricity. --mordicai. 00:41, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Scientists involved in neutron radiation exposure are involved in making new isotopes all the time. And the question becomes as to how all this data and information can best be organized. And so a system of reporting has been set up with the hopeful intent of reporting the maximum of information and with a minimum amount of inconsistencies. And one of the inconsistencies is the tendency of researchers to look for something and not find it and then extrapolate that information into the statement that the thing they are looking for can't exist. This can be described as changing a scientific fact into a scientific opinion which is a different category of information. Synthetic elements (and isotopes) are things that haven't yet been determined to naturally exist in nature in a stable state and are accordingly assumed to be naturally unstable. Examples would be some of the EE isotopes of both 62Sm and 84Po as well as some of the other EE isotopes of even Z heavy (above 87Fr) elements.WFPM (talk) 00:57, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Synthesis

The Synthetic element up to fermium can be produced by the neutron capture of lighter elements and subsequent and a subsequent beta decay. This process can either happen inside stars than it is called the s-process or it can happen as nuclear transmutation in nuclear fission for example nuclear reactors or nuclear bombs. The transfermium elements are produced by accelerating atoms and colliding them with a target material. The targets were heavy elements like actinides which were collided with light atoms like helium.

• Świątecki, W.; Siwek-Wilczyńska, K.; Wilczyński, J. (2005). "Fusion by diffusion. II. Synthesis of transfermium elements in cold fusion reactions". Physical Review C. 71: 014602. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.71.014602.
• Cwiok, S (1983). "Fission barriers of transfermium elements". Nuclear Physics A. 410 (2): 254. doi:10.1016/0375-9474(83)90201-4.
• Barber, R; Greenwood, N.N.; Hrynkiewicz, A.Z.; Jeannin, Y.P.; Lefort, M.; Sakai, M.; Ulehla, I.; Wapstra, A.H.; Wilkinson, D.H. (1992). "Discovery of the transfermium elements". Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics. 29: 453. doi:10.1016/0146-6410(92)90008-P.
• Herzberg, R; Greenlees, P (2008). "In-beam and decay spectroscopy of transfermium nuclei". Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics. 61 (2): 674. doi:10.1016/j.ppnp.2008.05.003.
• Barber, R. C.; Greenwood, N. N.; Hrynkiewicz, A. Z.; Jeannin, Y. P.; Lefort, M.; Sakai, M.; Ulehla, I.; Wapstra, A. P.; Wilkinson, D. H. (1993). "Discovery of the transfermium elements. Part II: Introduction to discovery profiles. Part III: Discovery profiles of the transfermium elements (Note: for Part I see Pure Appl. Chem., Vol. 63, No. 6, pp. 879-886, 1991)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 65 (8): 1757. doi:10.1351/pac199365081757.
• Barber, R; Greenwood, N.N.; Hrynkiewicz, A.Z.; Jeannin, Y.P.; Lefort, M.; Sakai, M.; Ulehla, I.; Wapstra, A.H.; Wilkinson, D.H. (1992). "Discovery of the transfermium elements". Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics. 29: 453. doi:10.1016/0146-6410(92)90008-P.
• "Aktuelle Informationen, u.a. Transfermium-Elemente, Stoffgemische,Splitter, Zum Gedenken". Chemkon. 3 (2): 93. 1996. doi:10.1002/ckon.19960030213.
• National Research Council (U.S.). Nuclear Physics Panel (1986). "The Heaviest Elements". Nuclear physics. Vol. 7 (Physics through the 1990s). National Academies Press. p. 94–95. ISBN 9780309035477.
• Emsley, John (2003-08-11). Nature's building blocks: an A-Z guide to the elements. p. 182. ISBN 9780198503408.
• Seaborg, Glenn Theodore (1994). "Editor's comment on the Papers 1 through 34". Modern alchemy: selected papers of Glenn T. Seaborg. World Scientific. p. 3–11. ISBN 9789810214401.
• Greiner, Walter (2006). "AIP Conference Proceedings". 853: 245. doi:10.1063/1.2338385. {{cite journal}}: |chapter= ignored (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Smolańczuk, Robert (2001). "Formation of superheavy elements in cold fusion reactions". Physical Review C. 63 (4): 044607. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.63.044607.
• Semchenkov, A; Bruchle, W; Jager, E; Schimpf, E; Schadel, M; Muhle, C; Klos, F; Turler, A; Yakushev, A (2008). "The TransActinide Separator and Chemistry Apparatus (TASCA) at GSI – Optimization of ion-optical structures and magnet designs". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. 266 (19–20): 4153. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2008.05.132.
• Heenen, P. H.; Nazarewicz, W. (2002). "Quest for superheavy nuclei". Europhysics News. 33: 5. doi:10.1051/epn:2002102.
• Münzenberger, G (2002). "Superheavy elements: Discovery and Challenges". The nuclear many-body problem 2001. Vol. 53 (NATO science series). Springer. p. 182. ISBN 9781402004629. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)

New section?

(Prescript: I realise this would be hard to maintain but i am sure there are enough enthusiasts out there for it not to be a problem)

I feel there should be a shortish(?) list of current synthesis projects. This could loosely be split into three: superheavy elements, heavy isotopes and light isotopes. Maybe if the list is very long only larger groups or groups of higher repute could be included (or those that if successful would mark a significant breakthrough).

Before anyone puts any real effort into this, have i missed this info elsewhere on wiki? I can't find it. If i have missed it, maybe a link is needed.