Module 2

Physical Science: Concept of Atomic Number that Led to the Synthesis of New
Elements in the Laboratory

OVERVIEW

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. explain how the concept of atomic number led to the synthesis of new elements in the laboratory;
2. identify the different elements formed after the process of synthesis; and
3. realize the importance of the atomic number in identifying the new elements identity in the periodic
table.

INTRODUCTION

Elements are made up of tiny particles, the neutron, proton and electron. Hydrogen and Helium are
the elements that first formed during the early stages of the Big Bang. The Big Bang singularity was very
dense and contained all matter and anti-matter in the Universe. As the Universe expanded and cooled,
there was a period of proton-proton chain reaction wherein protons were fused into Helium. The Universe
ran into a problem. Red giant cores get past this via the Triple-Alpha process, but the Universe expands
right through this possibility and the density/temperature are quickly too low to synthesize any additional
elements.

GROUP 1

DISCUSSION

Key Points
• The atomic number is the number of protons (positively charged particles) in an atom.
• Henry Gwyn-Jeffreys Moseley was an English physicist who demonstrated that the atomic number, the
number of protons in an atom, determines most of the properties of an element.
• In 1919, Ernest Rutherford successfully carried out a nuclear transmutation reaction a process of

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 transforming one element or isotope into another element.
• In 1925, there were four vacancies in the periodic table corresponding to the atomic numbers 43, 61,
85, and 87. Elements with atomic numbers 43 and 85 were synthesized using particle accelerators.
• A particle accelerator is a device that is used to speed up the protons to overcome the repulsion between
the protons and the target atomic nuclei by using magnetic and electrical fields. It is used to synthesize
new elements.
• Elements with atomic numbers greater than 92 (atomic number of uranium) are called transuranium
elements They were discovered in the laboratory using nuclear reactors or particle accelerators.
• In 1913, Moseley used Rutherford’s work to advance the understanding of the elements and solve the
problem with Mendeleev’s periodic table.
• Moseley noticed that shooting electrons at elements caused them to release x-rays at unique
frequencies. He also noticed that the frequency increased by a certain amount when the “positive
charge” of the chosen element was higher.
• By arranging the elements according to the square root of the frequency they emitted, he was able to
draw out an arrangement of elements that more correctly predicted periodic trends.
• Mention the experimental evidence he gave to an existing hypothesis: that the elements’ atomic number,
or place in the periodic table, was uniquely tied to their “positive charge”, or the number of protons they
had. This discovery allowed for a better arrangement of the periodic table, and predicted elements that
were not yet discovered. His method of identifying elements by shooting electrons and looking at x-rays
became a very useful tool in characterizing elements and is now called x-ray spectroscopy.
• He used X-ray spectroscopy to determine the atomic number of an element. He bombarded a beam of
electrons to different elements and measured their X-ray spectral lines. His results clearly showed that
frequency of the X-rays given off by an element was mathematically related to the position of that
element in the Periodic table. The frequency is proportional to the charge of the nucleus, or the atomic
number.
• When the elements were arranged according to their atomic numbers, there were four gaps in the table.
These gaps corresponded to the atomic numbers 43, 61, 85, and 87. These elements were later
synthesized in the laboratory through nuclear transmutations.

Discovery of Nuclear Transmutation

In 1919, Ernest Rutherford successfully carried out a nuclear transmutation reaction — a reaction
involving the transformation of one element or isotope into another element. The first nuclide to be prepared
by artificial means was an isotope of oxygen, 17O. It was made by Ernest Rutherford in 1919 by bombarding
nitrogen atoms.
However, both alpha particles and atomic nuclei are positively charged, so they tend to repel each

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other. Therefore, instead of using fast-moving alpha particles in synthesizing new elements, atomic nuclei
are often bombarded with neutrons (neutral particles) in particle accelerators.
James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932, as a previously unknown neutral particle
produced along with 12C by the nuclear reaction between 9Be and 4He.
The first element to be prepared that does not occur naturally on the earth, technetium, was created
by bombardment of molybdenum by deuterons (heavy hydrogen, H12), by Emilio Segre and Carlo Perrier
in 1937.
The first controlled nuclear chain reaction was carried out in a reactor at the University of Chicago
in 1942. One of the many reactions involved was:

GROUP 2
The Discovery of the Missing Elements

Recall that in 1925, there were four vacancies in the periodic table corresponding to the atomic
numbers 43, 61, 85, and 87. Two of these elements were synthesized in the laboratory using particle
accelerators. A particle accelerator is a device that is used to speed up the protons to overcome the
repulsion between the protons and the target atomic nuclei by using magnetic and electrical fields. It is used
to synthesize new elements. In 1937, American physicist Ernest Lawrence synthesized element with atomic
number 43 using a linear particle accelerator. He bombarded molybdenum (Z=42) with fast-moving
neutrons. The newly synthesized element was named Technetium (Tc) after the Greek word "technêtos"
meaning “artificial.” Tc was the first man-made element. The bombarding of Mo with deuteron formed
technicium which is the first artificially made element.
In 1940, Dale Corson, K. Mackenzie, and Emilio Segre discovered element with atomic number 85.
They bombarded atoms of bismuth (Z=83) with fast-moving alpha particles in a cyclotron. A cyclotron is a
particle accelerator that uses alternating electric field to accelerate particles that move in a spiral path in
the presence of a magnetic field. Element-85 was named astatine from the Greek word “astatos” meaning
unstable.
The two other elements with atomic numbers 61 and 87 were discovered through studies in
radioactivity. Element-61 (Promethium) was discovered as a decay product of the fission of uranium while
element-87 (Francium) was discovered as a breakdown product of uranium.

GROUP 3
The Synthesis of the Elements

The invention of the device called cyclotron paved the way for transmuting one element into another
artificially. The high-energy particles that are produced from the cyclotron upon hitting heavy target nuclei

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produce heavier nuclei.
The Universe ran into the Be problem. Red giant cores get past this via the Triple-Alpha process,
but the Universe expands right through this possibility and the density/temperature are quickly too low to
synthesis any additional elements.

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

● The oldest stars in the Galaxy are deficient in the abundance of elements heavier than Helium (but show
the predicted amount of He)
● The current record holder has Fe/H about 130,000 times smaller than the solar value.
● Not quite down to Big Bang abundances, but we are getting pretty close and still looking.

Chemical Evolution
● Low-mass stars synthesize `new’ He, C, O during the main-sequence, RGB, HB and AGB phases.
● These freshly minted elements are brought to the surface via convection and redistributed via stellar
winds and planetary nebulae into the interstellar medium to be incorporated into later generations of stars.

Chemical Evolution II
● For more massive stars, `equilibrium’ fusion reactions produce elements all the way up to Fe.
● Freshly made elements are delivered via stellar winds or, sometimes more spectacularly via supernova
explosions

Chemical Evolution III

What about the trans-Fe elements?
• Equilibrium fusion reactions of light elements don’t proceed past Fe because of Fe’s location at the peak
of the curve of binding energy.
• However, in certain circumstances, supernovae for example, non-equilibrium reactions can build elements
beyond Fe in the Periodic Table. Many of these are radioactive, but some are stable.

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 GROUP 4
Neutron d Elements
There are two principle paths to building the elements heavier than Fe. Both use the addition of
neutrons to existing `seed’ nuclei (neutrons have no charge so are much easier to add to positively-charged
nuclei).
S-process (slow addition of neutrons)
R-process (rapid addition of neutrons)

The S-process
• The S-process stands for the Slow addition of neutrons to nuclei. The addition of a no produces heavier
isotope of a particular element. However, if an electron is emitted (this is called beta-decay), the nucleus
moves one step up the periodic table.
• Slow’ here means that rate of no captures is low compared to the beta-decay rate.
• It really is slow. Sometimes 100’s of years go by between neutron captures.
• The s-process acting in the range from Ag to Sb.

• The S-process can produce elements up to #83 - Bismuth. There are peaks in the Solar System
abundance of heavy elements at 38Sr, 56Ba and 82Pb. These are easily understood in the context of the
S-process and `magic’ numbers of neutrons.
• The site of the S-process is AGB start during and between shell flashes. The no source is a by-product of
C13+He4 -> O16
• 43Tc is an s-process nucleus and proof that it is in operation in AGB stars.

The R-process
• The R-process is the Rapid addition of neutrons to existing nuclei. Rapid here means that many neutrons
are added before a beta-decay occurs.
• First build up a VERY heavy isotope, then, as beta-decays occur, you march up in atomic number and
produce the REALLY HEAVY STUFF.
• For this to happen, a big burst of neutrons is needed. The most promising place with the right conditions

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is in a SNII explosion right above the collapsed core.
• We see an overabundance of R-process elements in the oldest stars. As the early chemical enrichment
of the Galaxy was through SNII, this is evidence of SNII as the source of r-process elements.
• If we look at the Crab Nebula or other SNII remnants we don’t see r-process elements.
• We DO see regions of enhanced O, Si, Ne and He which appear to reflect the `onion skin’ structure of the
massive star progenitor.

The Transuranic Elements

In the 1930s, the heaviest element known was uranium, with an atomic number 92. Early in 1940,
Edwin McMillan proved that an element having an atomic number 93could be created. He used a particle
accelerator to bombard uranium with neutrons and created an element with an atomic number 93 which he
named neptunium.

Transuranic elements are synthetic elements with atomic numbers higher than that of Uranium (Z = 92).

At the end of 1940, element-94 was synthesized by Seaborg, McMillan, Kennedy, and Wahl. They
bombarded uranium with deuterons (particles composed of a proton and a neutron) in a cyclotron. Element-
94 was named plutonium.

Elements with atomic numbers greater than 92 (atomic number of uranium) are called transuranium
elements. Hence, neptunium and plutonium are both transuranium elements. They are unstable and decay
radioactively into other elements. All these elements were discovered in the laboratory as artificially
generated synthetic elements. They are prepared using nuclear reactors or particle accelerators. In the
next lesson, you will learn the nuclear reactions involved in the synthesis of these transuranium elements.

Stellar Nucleosynthesis

This is the process by which elements are created within stars by combining the protons and neutrons
together from the nuclei of lighter elements. Fusion inside stars transforms hydrogen into helium, heat, and
radiation. Heavier elements are created in different types of stars as they die or explode.

The Superheavy Elements

Superheavy elements are elements with atomic numbers beyond 103. These are produced by bombarding
heavy nuclear targets with accelerated heavy projectiles.

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 Bohrium (Z = 107) – projectile used was Cr

Following are the equations of several nuclear reactions that have important roles in the history of nuclear
chemistry:

• The first naturally occurring unstable element that was isolated, polonium, was discovered by the Polish
scientist Marie Curie and her husband Pierre in 1898. It decays, emitting particles:

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