Uranium 241: In pursuit of a ‘magic number’, physicists discover new uranium isotope

Source: The post is based on the article “In pursuit of a ‘magic number’, physicists discover new uranium isotope” published in The Hindu on 12th April 2023

What is the News?

While searching for a magic number, physicists in Japan have recently discovered a new isotope of uranium with atomic number 92 and mass number 241.

What is Uranium?

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What is Uranium 241?

Uranium 241 is a new isotope of Uranium. It has an atomic number of 92 and a mass number of 241.

Theoretical calculations suggest that this new isotope could have a half-life of 40 minutes.

How was Uranium 241 found?

To find uranium-241, the researchers accelerated uranium-238 nuclei into plutonium-198 nuclei using the KEK Isotope Separation System (KISS).

In a process called multinucleon transfer, the two isotopes exchanged protons and neutrons, resulting in nuclear fragments with different isotopes.

What is the significance of the Uranium 241 finding?

This finding is significant in refining our understanding of nuclear physics and has implications for designing nuclear power plants and models of exploding stars.

Measuring the mass of uranium and its neighbourhood elements yields essential nuclear information to understand the synthesis of such heavy elements in explosive astronomical events.

What are Magic Numbers’?

In nuclear physics, “magic numbers” are specific numbers of nucleons (protons or neutrons) that correspond to particularly stable configurations within atomic nuclei.

These numbers are believed to arise from the underlying shell structure of atomic nuclei. The heaviest known ‘magic’ nucleus is lead (82 protons).