Where does the periodic table of chemical elements end and which processes lead to the existence of heavy elements? Researchers report on experiments to come closer to an answer. They gained insight ...

Since the atomic nucleus was first proposed in 1911, physicists simply assumed it was round. But are the nuclei of atoms really round? Intuitively this shape makes sense and physicists believed it ...

An international research collaboration led by the University of Surrey's Nuclear Physics Group has overturned the ...

Smashing uranium-238 ions together proves to be a reliable way of imaging their nuclei. High-energy collision experiments reveal nuclear shapes that are strongly elongated and have no symmetry around ...

A five-dimensional model accurately predicts the asymmetric fission of mercury isotopes, advancing our understanding of nuclear fission beyond traditional heavy elements such as uranium and plutonium ...

A team of researchers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University (MSU) has discovered that cobalt-70 isotopes form different nuclear shapes when their energy levels ...

I read with great interest the article by Katherine Bourzac “Divining the Mysteries of the Atomic Nucleus” in the Jan. 29, 2024, issue of C&EN (page 30). Curious readers might like to know that an ...

Scientists in Finland have measured the heaviest known nucleus to undergo proton emission, discovering the rare isotope 188-astatine. It exhibits a unique shape and may reveal a new kind of nuclear ...

Where does the periodic table of chemical elements end and which processes lead to the existence of heavy elements? An international research team reports on experiments performed at the GSI/FAIR ...