05 N R Das.Pmd
ARTICLE A GLIMPSE OF TRANSURANIC RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS N. R. DAS* The discovery of the phenomenon of radioactivity provided an important means in detecting the existence of a specific kind of materials, namely, the radioactive elements, some of which sometimes can occur naturally or can be artificially synthesized. Originally, the total number of naturally occurring elements in Mendeleev’s periodic table was 92 ending with uranium, but by 2016, with the syntheses of the new transuranic radioactive elements, the total number of elements has been increased to 118. All these 118 elements, thirty-seven of which are radioactive, have been appropriately accommodated in the modern periodic table, as extended by Glean Seaborg. Occurrences and syntheses of all the natural and artificial radioactive elements in the periodic table, have been briefly discussed. Introduction Around 300 B. C., it was proposed that all materials were made up of four essential elements, namely, earth, n nuclear science, search for new chemical elements air, fire and water. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle (383 is an area of active research to-day. At the beginning – 322 B.C.) considered these elements as being of the creation of the Universe billions of years ago, I combinations of four properties, hot, cold, dry and moist. the formation of the chemical elements started shortly after During the passage of scientific history, the very idea of the big bang through nucleosynthesis of the primordial the four ‘elements’ has undergone extensive changes and nucleons such as neutrons and protons, formed from quark- Robert Boyle in his “Sceptical Chymist” in 1661 was the gluon plasma.
[Show full text]