Physicists may now have a way to make element 120

Element 120 and Naming

• Element 120 currently has the systematic placeholder name unbinilium (“one-two-zero-ium”) and will be renamed if confirmed.
• It would sit under radium; some prefer “eka-radium”–style naming that encodes periodic position.
• Discussion of IUPAC’s conservative naming process; “fun” fictional names are seen as unlikely.
• One comment notes element 121 would enter a new “g-block” region of the periodic table.

Experimental Method and Technical Challenges

• The discussed approach: accelerate titanium ions to ~0.1c and collide them with a plutonium target.
• This has already produced a few atoms of livermorium as a benchmark.
• Main difficulty: compound nuclei are created “hot” and tend to break apart; lowering beam energy helps survival but cuts fusion rates.
• Producing and accelerating titanium beams is itself hard: vaporizing or ion-sourcing Ti at high purity and temperature is a major materials-science challenge.

Stability, Island of Stability, and Nuclear Structure

• Oganesson (118) is the heaviest confirmed element; only a handful of atoms have been made.
• An “island of stability” is predicted around the low 110s, potentially giving half-lives up to seconds or longer, but models have lost confidence as data increased.
• Even proton/neutron numbers tend to be more stable; several even-Z elements were discovered before neighboring odd-Z ones.
• Binding-energy arguments suggest stability broadly peaks near iron; heavier nuclei rely on special “magic numbers” and quickly become more unstable.

Scientific Value vs. “What’s the Point?”

• Enthusiasts see this as:
  • A critical testbed for nuclear-structure theory and the strong force.
  • Input to understanding early-universe and neutron-star nucleosynthesis.
  • Possible path to longer-lived superheavy isotopes with future applications (e.g., medical).
• Others are skeptical given millisecond lifetimes and atom-scale yields, comparing it to “playing with expensive toys” and noting national prestige and competition as drivers.

Limits of the Periodic Table and Extreme Matter

• Debate over whether the periodic table is “infinite” centers on definitions: existence requires nuclei that live long enough (~10⁻¹⁴ s) to form an electron cloud.
• Arguments highlight: growing proton repulsion vs short-range strong force; eventual unbinding to proton/neutron emission; relativistic electron effects at very high Z.
• Some invoke gravity and neutron stars; others counter that gravitational effects are irrelevant at nuclear scales, though neutron stars can be viewed (loosely) as giant nuclear systems, not atoms, and do not support chemistry.