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Nature 418, 815-816 (22 August 2002) | doi:10.1038/418815a
Heavy elements: A very brief encounter
Kendall Powell1
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Abstract
Little is known about the heavy elements that lie at the outer limits of the periodic table. But how do you investigate atoms that decay within seconds? Kendall Powell finds out.
Christoph Düllmann cracked open a bottle of vodka when he detected his first hassium atom. Over the next few days, six more atoms registered on detectors at the GSI, a heavy-ion research centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
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