Existence of New Element Confirmed, Researchers Say

The periodic table of elements may soon get a new member, according to a team of physicists from Lund University who say they have confirmed the existence of an element first proposed by a team of Russian scientists nearly a decade ago.

According to the BBC, the element is highly radioactive with an atomic number of 115 and exists for less than a second before decaying into lighter atoms.

The latest experiment consisted of bombarding a thin film of americium with calcium ions, which then enabled the team of researchers to measure photons in connection with the new element's alpha decay. Sure enough, certain energies of the photons agreed with those expected for X-ray radiation, the "fingerprint" of any given element.

Furthermore, the researchers say the new study holds significance beyond the new element alone, allowing them a deeper look into the structure and properties of super-heavy atomic nuclei.

"This was a very successful experiment and is one of the most important in the field in recent years," Dirk Rudolph, Professor at the Division of Nuclear Physics at Lund University, said in a statement.

The element has yet to be named, although a committee consisting of members of the international unions of pure and applied physics and chemistry will review the study in order to determine whether further research is needed before the element is officially recognized.

The experiment was carried out at the GSI research facility in Germany, which has previously served as the site of discovery of six new elements, including bohrium, hassium, meitnerium, darmstadtium, roentgenium and copernicium.

"Chemical elements are produced in stars and in stellar explosions," GSI officials explain on their site. "Ultimately, these elements are the building blocks of all materials that surround us -- including every atom of our bodies. However, the universe is also home to a large number of other atoms that do not occur on the earth. One of the key tasks of the researchers at GSI is to attempt to create previously unknown elements in the laboratory."

The study is published in the journal The Physical Review Letters.