Get the latest tech news
Scientists Create New Heavy-Metal Molecule: 'Berkelocene'
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Mercury News: After a year of fastidious planning, a microscopic sample of the ultra-rare radioactive element berkelium arrived at a Berkeley Lab. With just 48 hours to experiment before it would become unusable, a group of nearly 20 researchers focus...
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Mercury News: After a year of fastidious planning, a microscopic sample of the ultra-rare radioactive element berkelium arrived at a Berkeley Lab. Using a chemical glove box, a polycarbonate glass box with protruding gloves that shields substances from oxygen and moisture, scientists combined the berkelium metal with an organic molecule containing only carbon and hydrogen to create a chemical reaction... [Post-doc researcher Dominic] Russo, researcher Stefan Minasian, and 17 other scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory had created berkelocene, a new molecule that usurps theorists' expectations about how carbon bonds with heavy-metal elements. The researchers believe more accurate models for how actinide elements like uranium behave will help solve problems related to long-term nuclear waste storage.
Or read this on Slashdot
