118 ununoctium


In the latest experiments, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, bombarded californium with calcium ions to create 118 — the heaviest ever created in such experiments. Scientists said they found their first superheavy element 118 atom in 2002, then found another two atoms in 2005 in a second round of experiments in which they fired 10 to the power of 19 calcium ions at the californium. In the end the atoms of element 118 — also known as ununoctium — lasted 0.9 milliseconds, researchers said.