Senior High School Physical Science 12

Learning Activity Sheet No. 2 – Quarter 1 , Week 2

SYNTHETIC ELEMENTS
Learning Competency
Explain how the concept of atomic number led to the synthesis of new
elements in the laboratory

Key Concepts

In the mid-19th century, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev and

others, doing independently, recommended that the different known
chemical elements may be arranged in order of increasing atomic weight
that would result to an observance of a periodic trend in some of the known
properties of these elements. With this discovery, Mendeleev tabulated these
elements in the first known periodic table. The developed periodic table of
elements paved way to the discovery of the still unknown natural elements
in that time.

In spite of its worth, the available periodic table, based on increasing

atomic weight, had some inconsistencies. It was in this dilemma where
another scientist, Henry Moseley, came into limelight in the early 20th
century. He proposed, based on his work on frequencies of x-rays released
by elements, that instead of increasing atomic weight, elements may be
better arranged in terms of their increasing atomic number, which
corresponds to the number of protons each element has. This arrangement
of elements based on increasing atomic number is the basis of the modern
periodic table of elements which predicted the existence of elements that
were not yet discovered.

How nuclear reactions equations are written?

Nuclear reaction equations involve only the nucleus (consist
of protons and neutrons) of an atom. It utilizes nuclide symbols
of elements which are composed of the symbol for an element (X),
its mass number (A), and its atomic number (Z).
𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 → 𝐀
𝐀𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 → 𝐙 𝐗 ← 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥
Mass number indicates the total number of protons and
neutrons present in a nuclide while atomic number indicates the
number of protons in a nuclide.
How nuclear reaction equations are balanced?
The sum of the mass numbers on both side of the equation
must be equal. Same rule is applied with atomic numbers.

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Senior High School Physical Science 12

The first unknown element in which its existence was predicted by the
arrangement of known elements in the periodic table and which was
97
synthesized artificially was technetium. Technetium ( 43 Tc) was artificially-
96
formed by bombarding molybdenum ( 42Mo) with the deuterium isotope of
hydrogen ( 21H). The complete reaction equation is shown below.
𝟗𝟔
𝟒𝟐𝐌𝐨 + 𝟐𝟏𝐇 → 𝟗𝟕
𝟒𝟑𝐓𝐜 + 𝟏𝟎𝒏
Figure 7. Nuclear reaction of the formation of technetium.
The discovery of technetium filled a gap in the periodic table in the time
it was synthesized. Although technetium was first discovered through
synthesis in laboratory, it was found later that it is a naturally-occurring
element.
Synthetic elements are chemical elements that do not occur naturally.
These are elements are those with atomic numbers 95 through 118. They
are synthesized by forcing an additional proton onto the nucleus of the
elements with atomic number lower than 95. This is possible through the
use of nuclear reactor, a particle accelerator, or even in explosion of atomic
bombs.
The first set of synthetic elements discovered were the transuranic
elements, elements with atomic number greater than the atomic number
of uranium (Z=92), although neptunium and plutonium were later
discovered in nature. Some of the nuclear reaction equations which
represent the formation of transuranic elements are shown below.

Uranium-238 undergoes neutron

𝟐𝟑𝟖 𝟏 𝟐𝟑𝟗 𝟎 capture reaction to form uranium-
𝟗𝟐𝐔 + 𝟎𝒏 → 𝟗𝟐𝐔 + 𝟎𝜸
239.

𝟐𝟑𝟗 𝟐𝟑𝟗 𝟎 Uranium-239 undergoes beta decay

𝟗𝟐𝐔 → 𝟗𝟑𝐍𝐩 + −𝟏𝜷 ̅
+ 𝒗
and forms neptunium-239.

𝟐𝟑𝟗 𝟐𝟑𝟗 𝟎 Neptunium-239 undergoes beta

𝟗𝟑𝐍𝐩 → 𝟗𝟒𝐏𝐮 + −𝟏𝜷 ̅
+ 𝒗
decay and forms plutonium-239.
Plutonium-239 undergoes neutron
𝟐𝟑𝟗 𝟏 𝟏 𝟐𝟒𝟏 𝟎 capture process to form plutonium-
𝟗𝟒𝐏𝐮 + 𝟎𝒏 + 𝟎𝒏 → 𝟗𝟒𝐏𝐮 + 𝟎𝜸
241.

𝟐𝟒𝟏 𝟐𝟒𝟏 𝟎 Plutonium-241 undergoes beta

𝟗𝟒𝐏𝐮 → 𝟗𝟓𝐀𝐦 + −𝟏𝜷 ̅
+ 𝒗
decay and forms americium-241.
This chain reaction starting from uranium-238 produces three
transuranic elements which are the neptunium, plutonium, and
americium. Neptunium and plutonium are naturally-occurring elements
while americium does not occur in nature.

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Senior High School Physical Science 12

The next significant group of synthetic elements are the superheavy

elements or elements with atomic number greater than 103. Although by
definition these elements are also transuranic elements, superheavy
elements are rather produced through a nuclear reaction that combines two
other nuclei of unequal size into one. The heaviest chemical element in the
periodic table is oganesson. Oganesson has the highest atomic number and
highest atomic weight of all known element. Oganesson was first
synthesized in 2002 in a laboratory in Russia reporting that they have
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detected oganesson-294 (118 Og).

𝟐𝟒𝟗 𝟒𝟖 𝟐𝟗𝟒
𝟗𝟖𝐂𝐟 + 𝟐𝟎𝐂𝐚 → 𝟏𝟏𝟖𝐎𝐠 + 𝟑 𝟏𝟎𝒏
Figure 8. Nuclear equation of the synthesis of oganesson.
As shown in the nuclear reaction equation, this synthetic element was
first produced via collision of californium-249 atoms ( 249
98Cf) and calcium-48
48
(20Ca) ions.

Learning Activities

Activity 1. Natural vs. Synthetic

Differentiate synthetic elements from naturally-occurring elements by
providing a brief description of each group.

Naturally-occurring Elements Synthetic Elements

Activity 2. Questions and Problems

Provide a concise answer to the following questions.
1. What is the difference between the periodic table of elements
developed by Mendeleev and the periodic table of elements developed
by Moseley?
2. What is the importance of the development of the periodic table of
elements?
3. Describe the process of the artificial synthesis of the first synthetic
element.
4. What is the importance of the artificial synthesis of the first synthetic
element?
5. Differentiate the process of synthesis of plutonium-239 and
plutonium-241.

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Senior High School Physical Science 12

Activity 3. Nuclear Reactions in Action

Predict the synthetic element formed in the following nuclear reactions. Write
either the symbol or name of the element.

249
1. 98Cf + 21H → _____ + 310𝑛

244 48
2. 94Pu + 20Ca → _____

209 54
3. 83Bi + 24Cr → _____ + 10𝑛

249 48
4. 97Bk + 20Ca → _____ + 410𝑛

208 70
5. 82Pb + 30Zn → _____ + 10𝑛

208 54
6. 82Pb + 24Cr → _____ + 2 10𝑛

244 12
7. 96Cm + 6C → _____ + 4 10𝑛

208 64
8. 82Pb + 28Ni → _____ + 10𝑛

249 15
9. 98Cf + 7N → _____ + 4 10𝑛

10. 243
95Am +
48
20Ca → _____ + 3 10𝑛

Performance Task

Information and Graphics

Create an infographic about one synthetic element. Include significant
information about its discovery, properties, and important uses. This
activity may be done as an individual or in small groups (following the
minimum health public standards).