A new isotope uranium-214U was discovered in a series of experiments at the Spectrometer for Heavy Atoms and Nuclear Structure (SHANS) at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou, China.
- According to the scientists, it is the lightest ever known uranium.
- The physicists fired a beam of argon-36 at a tungsten-182 target to produce nuclei of 214U, says Sci-News.
- 214U is an isotope, or a variant of the element, with 30 more neutrons than protons, one fewer neutron than the next-lightest known uranium isotope.
- Uranium, with atomic number 92, was discovered in 1789 by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth.
- Naturally occurring uranium consists of 99.3 per cent uranium-238 , 0.7 per cent uranium-235 (used in nuclear reactors), and a very small amount of uranium 234.
(Source: Sci-News)
