Learn what it takes to make a new element with the Big Ideas Lab podcast

Scientists are still adding to the periodic table and expanding what we know about matter. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), researchers are creating entirely new elements that exist for only moments.

In the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab, step into the world of superheavy element discovery to understand how these rare atoms are made, why they matter and what they teach scientists about the building blocks of the universe. Listen on Apple or Spotify.

That periodic table on the wall of a high school classroom? It’s actually not finished.

The basic, naturally occurring elements — from hydrogen at one proton to uranium at 92 — form the foundation of chemistry, biology and everyday materials. But then there's a gap. Elements 93 through 103 exist, but they're all synthetic and human-made. Past element 104 is the realm of superheavy elements — atoms with extremely large, unstable nuclei that don’t occur naturally.

These elements are created in a lab through nuclear reactions or witnessed in faraway galaxies.

“When stars explode, we can catch glimpses in telescopes. We see evidence of heavy element production in these supernovas,” said Dawn Shaughnessy, who leads the Nuclear and Chemical Sciences division at LLNL. “[With element discovery], we're trying to basically duplicate what happens in our universe, and that helps try to explain how the universe works.”

In the late 1980’s, LLNL partnered with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia — an international collaboration which lasted for over three decades. While Livermore provided rare and carefully prepared target materials, Dubna had the particle accelerator to run the experiments.

“We did discovery experiments for element 117. We were looking at an element that hit our detector system. We watched it literally fall apart by spitting out helium atoms or alpha particles, one at a time until finally the system says, “I've had enough of this,” and then it splits in half, roughly speaking,” said LLNL senior radiochemist Roger Henderson. “The fission at the end was a couple of hours. It's a couple of hours and it's gone.”

The group did this four other times, discovering elements 114 through 118. Element 116 was given the name Livermorium in recognition of the role the Laboratory played in these experiments.

Tune in to the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab to learn how every new element adds a missing piece to the puzzle of how matter is built and how the universe came to be. Listen on Apple or Spotify.