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Scientists Discover New Heavy-Metal Molecule 'Berkelocene'
- EdwardDiego 2y agoKudos to the scientists for working out how to work with this element. But I have to say, as a speaker of a post-colonial English dialect with strong British English roots... ...calling the element berkelium is either very innocent Berkley pride, or they knew what they were doing... https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/berk https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/berk
- stavros 2y agoI'm going to with the former! Especially since "berk" still comes from "Berkeley".
- labster 2y agoI’m not sure which Berkeley you’re thinking of, but I’m pretty sure it’s named after the one located at: Lr Bk National Laboratory, Bk, Cf Am
- hehbot 2y agoFour elements in a single address is an insane flex
- perihelions 2y agoYTbErYb, Sc? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterby https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterby ("Ytterby is the single richest source of elemental discoveries in the world; the chemical elements yttrium (Y), terbium (Tb), erbium (Er), and ytterbium (Yb) are all named after Ytterby")
- perihelions 2y agoYTbErYb, Sc Eu You could *almost* squeeze in a seventh, as Holmium is named after the city of Stockholm; and the city Ytterby is in the greater Stockholm area, in Sweden. Sadly, Ytterby doesn't seem to be contained in any political division with a proper name containing "Stockholm". So, that doesn't work. (Though Ytterby is in a geographic region called the "Stockholm archipelago").
- anthk 2y agoHe/she forgot Na for National.
- asielen 2y agoExcept all of the elements in the address above were at least partially discovered at that address or by teams with connections to that lab. Although usually it is a joint discovery with at least one other lab. Na is a bit older than those labs. Berkeley Lawrence elements: https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/new-elements-here.html https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/new-elements-h... Lawrence Livermore elements: https://www.llnl.gov/article/41866/lawrence-livermore-credited-discovery-elements-115-117-and-118#:~:text=The%20International%20Union%20of%20Pure,elements%20115%2C%20117%20and%20118. https://www.llnl.gov/article/41866/lawrence-livermore-credit...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- DarkNova6 2y agoWell, given the difficulties working with this highly radioactive element...
- b800h 2y agoNot many people are aware that Berk is a piece of Cockney rhyming slang, although perhaps more now that it's listed on that Wiktionary entry. Berkeley Hunt => C.. My grandmother used to use it all the time; she'd be horrified. Its meaning has diverged significantly from its origin.
- RugnirViking 2y ago> Not many people are aware that Berk is a piece of Cockney rhyming slang, I'd say at least the ~70M population of the uk would know it. Probably quite a few outside also
- robocat 2y agoIn my childhood in New Zealand I remember berk used to mean plonker/fool. Wiktionary says: berk (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) a fool, a prat, a twit, etc. Although the term remains in fairly wide use, its specific origin and meaning in rhyming slang is less well known, lessening its vulgarity. Synonyms see fool and idiot.
- defrost 2y agoIn the AU / NZ domain the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-61 helped, fairly or unfairly, cement the association of 'Burke' with foolish. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills_expedition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills_expedition
- Loughla 2y agoMidwest United States we used to use the word Berk interchangeably with times we would use the word asshole. I never really understood why, but now that I understand it's rhyming slang I'm even more confused as to why we did that.
- opello 2y agoWhich part of the midwest?
- p0w3n3d 2y agoThis will be my band name. Dibs on that name!
- stavros 2y agoIs it at least going to be a heavy metal band?
- saltcured 2y agoIt's a confusing name to me though. Berkelocene feels like something geologists and anthropologists should know about, marked by a layer of sediment comprised mostly of hemp, LSD blotters, and decomposing concert posters.
- b800h 2y agoThis sounds like it would merit inclusion in Derek Lowe's "Things I won't work with": “Only a few facilities around the world can protect both the compound and the worker while managing the combined hazards of a highly radioactive material that reacts vigorously with the oxygen and moisture in air,” said Polly Arnold, a co-corresponding author on the paper.
- londons_explore 2y agoHow fast does it evaporate in a vacuum?
- hnuser123456 2y ago249Bk half-life is 330 days. A solid kilogram of it would be a lot of decays in a small area. It would heat up close to its melting point before glowing brightly enough in infrared to shed the heat as quickly as it's generated.
- gus_massa 2y agoIt's a very hard question, borderline impossible with the current technology [1], but if you allow me to handwave and lie and lie even more: It's a very heavy molecule. The top "bread" of the sandwich has 14 Carbons and a few undraw Hydrogen, I guess 16. So the weight is 12×14+16×1 =184 Double that for the other "bread". The "meatball" in the center is Berkelium 247. So the total weight is 184+184+247=615. Assuming the Berkelium is totaly covered, the exterior part is similar to Hydrocarbons in oil. There are many, so let's try to pick the correct one. Each Carbon usually has two Hydrogen, so the weight is 14×num_C, so the number of Carbons in a fake equivalent is 615/14~=44. Hydrocarbons in gasoline have like 6-10 Carbons, diesel has like 12-20. Parafin wax https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraffin_wax https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraffin_wax has 20-40 Carbons per molecule. So this molecule is closer to heavy parafin wax. Double bonds are also important, and this molecule has a lot of them, but my handwaving is not strong enough to deal with it. > How fast does it evaporate in a vacuum? I guess it will take forever. [1] Edit: without a sample, you can probably measure it in the lab with a big enough sample.
- scop 2y agoDoes it go to 11?
- debo_ 2y agoSomeone out there is definitely naming their band "berkolocene" right now.
- zombot 2y agoOne lonely berkelium ion, bereft of four electrons, and yet it is happy. Until an oxygen molecule comes along...
- dschuetz 2y agoFirst meme about Berkelocene.
- tetris11 2y agoI'm always amazed by these islands of stability: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability#/media/File%3AIsland_of_Stability_derived_from_Zagrebaev.svg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability#/media/F...
- phkahler 2y agoI'm fascinated by the island of instability at 5. There are no stable elements with 5 baryons.
- perihelions 2y agoThat one has cosmic significance (so I understand); that island is what choked off big bang nucleosynthesis from continuing beyond helium. The universe would be unrecognizable if there were a stable He-5 or Li-5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang_nucleosynthesis#Heavy_elements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang_nucleosynthesis#Heavy... ("Big Bang nucleosynthesis produced very few nuclei of elements heavier than lithium due to a bottleneck: the absence of a stable nucleus with 8 or 5 nucleons...")
- russfink 2y agoSo… what do you use this molecule for?
- platz 2y agolearning
- muscomposter 2y ago[flagged]
- ehayes 2y agoUh, organometallic molecule? I was raised on the X-Files, I know the Black Oil when I see it.
- nimish 2y agois this gonna open some kind of cool new way to extract actinides and lanthanides (i.e., rare earths) from the ground? VCs talk about deep tech and then they don't jump on stuff like this!