What is the heaviest matter known to man?

BRY2K

Element 118 has been created in experiments conducted at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia by a collaboration of researchers from Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Element 118, the heaviest element yet found, was produced through collisions that fused together Californium and Calcium atoms. Although element 118 is too unstable to detect directly, the presence of daughter elements resulting from the decay of element 118 gave clues to its fleeting existence. http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2006/10/controversy-plagued-element-118.html Jun 27 08, 10:13 AM

author

This is correct, although the official name now is Ununoctium. Quote: Ununoctium, also known as eka-radon or element 118, is the temporary IUPAC name for the transactinide element having the atomic number 118 and temporary element symbol Uuo. On the periodic table of the elements, it is a p-block element and the last one of the 7th period. Ununoctium is currently the only synthetic member of group 18 and has the highest atomic number and highest atomic mass assigned to a discovered element. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Element_118 Jun 27 08, 10:33 AM

sequoianoir

It would need to be "What is the heaviest ELEMENT known to man?" Why? Well surely the "matter" that makes up NEUTRON STARS or BLACK HOLES contains "the heaviest" known to man. Doesn't it? http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=115351 Further to my last response - it may actuall be close to Earth (and not 118) QUARK GLUON SOUP !! Scientists have produced the densest matter ever created in a laboratory. The success came at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, US, where physicists smashed together gold nuclei moving at near-light speed. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1121008.stm http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E5DC1138F93AA25755C0A9659C8B63 Jun 27 08, 12:41 PM