Man-made elements

Man at last understood the elements well enough to make his own.

First there were some elements still missing from the Periodic Table. The fact was they were practically missing from nature, too.

Scientists had to make these elements themselves. To make such elements meant first of all to carry on great experimental work. Many scientists worked hard at this problem. In 1919 Ernest Rutherford was the first to change nitrogen to oxygen by bombarding nitrogen atoms with alpha-particles.

To alter an element artificially is to add or subtract particles in its nucleus. The first completely new man-made isotope was created by Rutherford's method, its creators being Irene Curie and her husband Frederic Joliot. To do that they had to bombard aluminium with alpha-particles. This attack transformed some of the aluminium atoms into a highly radioactive substance. This substance was a new kind of phosphorus, its atomic weight being 30, instead of natural phosphorus 31.

It was no wonder that phosphorus 30 did not occur in nature, its half-life being only two and a half minutes. Thus the Joliot-Curies were the first to produce "artificial radioactivity".

The era of artificial transmutation began with the build­ing of the first "atom-smasher", i.e. the cyclotron. By means of cyclotron and energetic particle-accelerators developed later it became possible to open up the nucleus of any atom. It became possible to add particles to it, and even to create new ones.

The first element produced in this way was the missing number 43, it being named "technetium" meaning "artificial". The aim of the scientists was to discover other elements.

In 1939 a new element was found. It behaved like an alkali-metal, therefore it was to be 87 the missing number of the alkali-metal family. It was called "francium". It was detected in nature. Later that element was produced artificially by an accelerator, and only then did chemists obtain enough of it. For that reason francium is to be considered as a man-made element.

Later scientists discovered traces of an element in neutron-bombarded uranium. They called it "neptunium". Radioactive neptunium gave rise to another element – number 94.

In 1955 chemists could produce a few atoms of element 101, which was named "mendelevium" in honour of D. I. Mendeleyev. The isolation of element number 102 occurred in 1963, it being named "nobelium", as part of the work was done at the Nobel Institute in Stockholm.

The next element to be produced was 103, it was named "lawrencium" for E. Lawrence, the inventor of the cyclotron.

Then the task was to discover the next element. It was 104. It was named "kurchatovium" in honour of the great Soviet scientist I. V. Kurchatov, who worked in the field of nuclear physics. He conducted a great deal of research in the field of nuclear physics.

The scientists of the whole world continue their research in the field of artificial elements.

Notes on the Text:

1. first of all – прежде всего

2. energetic particle-accelerators – ускорители высоких энергий

3. smash – биться, разбиваться.

1. Why did it become possible to make elements artifi­cially? 2. What problem did many scientists work at? 3. What does it mean to alter an element artificially? 4. What ele­ment was produced by Irene Curie and Frederic Joliot? 5. How did they get this element? 6. What is cyclotron used for? 7. What element was produced by means of cyclotron? 8. What element was found in 1955? 9. Why was element number 104 named "kurchatovium"? 10. How many elements in the Periodic Table are known now?

9. Open the brackets translating the Russian words into English:

1. (При помощи) of a new cyclotron it became possible to open up the nucleus of any atom. 2. The new device was created (вместо) an old one. 3. The element produced (таким образом) was named "technetium". 4. The element behaved (подобно) an alkali-metal. 5. Radioactive neptunium (привел) to another element – number 94. 6. The isolation of element number 102 (имело место) in 1963. 7. (He удивительно) that many new discoveries have taken place recently. 8. (Наконец) they succeeded in creating a new type of ma­chine. 9. This element was named (в честь) of this famous scientist. 10. It was (особенно) difficult to distinguish this substance. 11. It was (практически) impossible to create a new type of machine at our plant.

10. Explain the difference between:

hard – hardly high – highly great - greatly

near – nearly late – lately ready – readily

11. Find the sentences where the word "hard" is translated as "упорно", "настойчиво":

1. The research-workers of our Institute had to carry on hard work to find out all the missing properties of this sub­stance. 2. He has to work hard this term as he missed many lectures. 3. It was hardly possible to distinguish the properties of this substance at first sight, therefore a powerful microscope had to be used. 4. They worked hard and their hard work resulted in new interesting discoveries. 5. If you studied hard, you would hardly fail at the examination. 6. She will hardly come as she is very busy. 7. The molecules of even the hardest steels can be separated by enormous distances compared to the size of the molecules.

12. Translate the text using a dictionary:

Element 101 Mendelevium in the form of the isotope ²⁵⁶Md, was the first to be synthesized in 1955. In recent years several additional isotopes of Mendelevium have been pre­pared, the most important one being ²⁵⁸Md which has the surprisingly long half-life of two months. It was produced in a large quantity – 10,000 atoms by the bombardment of an isotope of Einsteinium with ions of helium.

The isotope ²⁵⁶Md having a half-life of 77 minutes has been used by chemists to elucidate some of the chemical properties of the element in aqueous solution.

The isotope ²⁵⁴102 was identified through the fact that its daughter, an isotope of fermium, ²⁵⁰Fm, formed by alpha-particle decay was observed and chemically identified.

The half-life of ²⁵⁴102 was stated to be about three seconds. Later work showed that this short-lived activity was due to another isotope.

In 1965 Dubna workers found a longer-lived isotope – lawrencium ²⁵⁶Lr, its half-life being 35 seconds.

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