Spontaneous Fission Previously Observed in a Mercury Source

PREVIOUSLY 1 , we have presented evidence for the possible existence of a superheavy element with atomic number 112. The principal evidence for the possible existence of this element was based on the observation of spontaneous fission in a mercury source separated from a tungsten target which had be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1971-01, Vol.234 (5326), p.212-215
Main Authors: MARINOV, A, BATTY, C. J, KILVINGTON, A. I, WEIL, J. L, FRIEDMAN, A. M, NEWTON, G. W. A, ROBINSON, V. J, HEMINGWAY, J. D, MATHER, D. S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:PREVIOUSLY 1 , we have presented evidence for the possible existence of a superheavy element with atomic number 112. The principal evidence for the possible existence of this element was based on the observation of spontaneous fission in a mercury source separated from a tungsten target which had been irradiated by 24 GeV protons. Spontaneous fission activity was observed, using polycarbonate foils, in mercury sources separated from two tungsten targets. These latter are identified by the symbols W2 and W3. In the case of the W3 source the proton dose was probably less than for W2 and also only about 30% of the mercury added as carrier was recovered in the final source (as measured by colorimetric techniques). The observed fission activity was smaller than that observed with the W2 source. In the latter case (W2) the measured activity was originally about three fissions/day and all experimental work reported here has been carried out with this sample.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/234212b0