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from the runningon-outium-ofine-ideasium dept.
Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 are now formally named nihonium (Nh), moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts), and oganesson (Og)
https://iupac.org/iupac-announces-the-names-of-the-elements-113-115-117-and-118/
In concordance with and following the earlier reports that the claims for discovery of these elements have been fulfilled [...], the discoverers have been invited to propose names. Keeping with tradition, the newly discovered elements have been named after a place or geographical region, or a scientist. The ending of the names also reflects and maintains historical and chemical consistency: "-ium" for elements 113 and 115 and as for all new elements of groups 1 to 16, "-ine" for element 117 and belonging to group 17 and "-on" for element 118 element belonging to group 18.[3] The recommendations will be published in the IUPAC journal Pure and Applied Chemistry* (http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/pac-2016-0501).
[...] The exploration of new elements continues, and scientists are searching for elements beyond the seventh row of the periodic table. IUPAC and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) are establishing a new joint working group which task will be to examine the criteria used to verify claims for the discovery of new elements.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday December 03 2016, @08:13PM
Just not seeing any possibility of a practical application until that happens.
Nobody could see the practical advantages of coherent light when lasers were invented, either... at first. Nobody could see the practicality of automobiles in 1900. Nobody in 1970 thought that in 2016 they'd have a supercomputer in their pockets.
No, these elements don't last long, but their quick decay will likely be put to use in the future.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Sunday December 04 2016, @05:37AM
Ok, lets look at your examples. The laser was invented in the 1950s and practical applications appeared almost instantly. By the 1980s lasers were in consumer products, the Compact Disc and Laserdisc being notable examples. The auto was an obvious success with the model T in 1908 and was one of the defining products of the 20th Century. Artificial isotopes date back to the start of the atomic era. Several of the early discoveries were useful, but once we got to the ones with lifetimes measured in milliseconds, it is rare to read of actual measurements of the element itself, just examining the decay products.
I really do wonder at the inability for a lot of folks to process the idea of limits. Resources are not infinite. Not money, not phisical things, not skilled researchers. Some lines of research cost more of these resources than others. And while it is harder to make predictions about the possible unknowns in scientific research it is possible to say some lines of research are more likely than others to bear fruit in the next few decades than others. With a current U.S. debt of 20 Trillion dollars on the just the primary accounts, plus the off book liabilities, and every developed country in pretty much the same bad situation, the idea of targeting research funded by a govermnent in such dire fiscal condition to only lines most likely to create sufficient economic growth to bring in enough revenue to justify it should not be controversial.
But it obviously is. Anonymous Conservative's blog [ipage.com] and book [castaliahouse.com] provide the clearest explanation of this thought process I have seen to date. That in r selected people, the very idea that limits exist causes them mental discomfort. That they will reject the concept if at all possible. As you and others have done, you don't attempt to justify this particular line of research, you attack my premise, you attack the very idea that limits exist as a subject for reasonable discussion.
(Score: 3, Informative) by butthurt on Wednesday December 07 2016, @01:18AM
Nobody could see the practical advantages of coherent light when lasers were invented, either... at first.
Holography, which requires a coherent light source, had been invented around 1948. Initially it was done with a mercury vapour lamp, a filter and a collimator.
Note that Gabor’s experiments predate the invention of lasers by more than 12 years. Thus, the light source used in these initial experiments was a mercury lamp, with appropriate spatial (angular) and temporal (color) filtering to increase the spatial and temporal coherence, respectively.
--
http://light.ece.illinois.edu/ECE460/PDF/Holography.pdf [illinois.edu]
In 1948 Gabor performed the basic experiments in optical holography (then called "wavefront reconstruction") using incandescent light, but the results were less than satisfactory due to the random phase relationships (the "noise") generated by incandescent light.2 Practical use of Gabor's holographic principles would necessarily await the development of a coherent light source. "Coherent" light means that all of the light emitted by the laser has the same wavelength and is in phase, i.e., there is no difference in the phase relationships of the emitted light. Happily, the invention of the laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) a decade later produced the needed coherent light source.
-- http://hermital.org/book/holoprt7-1.htm [hermital.org]
The applicability of lasers to holography was seen in 1962 [holography.ru]:
In 1962 Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks of the University of Michigan recognized from their work in side-reading radar that holography could be used as a 3-D visual medium. In 1962 they read Gabor's paper and "simply out of curiosity" decided to duplicate Gabor's technique using the laser and an "off-axis" technique borrowed from their work in the development of side-reading radar. The result was the first laser transmission Upatniekshologram of 3-D objects (a toy train and bird).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by butthurt on Wednesday December 07 2016, @01:20AM
"A laser is a solution seeking a problem," said [nytimes.com] Theodore Maiman, who built the first laser.