Re: HOW ARE KNOWN THE CHARACTERITICS OF A NEW ELEMENT?

HOW CAN THE SCIENS CAN DETERMINE THE CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ELEMENTS THAT ARE PRODUCED IN THE FISION OF ELEMENTS IF THEY ONLY LAST LESS THAN A SECOND.

It seems to me that you are asking about the short-lived transuranium elements, which are produced by nuclear fusion reactions, rather than products of nuclear fission (many of which are comparatively long-lived; ⁹⁰Sr, for example, has a half-life of 28 years).

Transuranium elements are produced by bombarding heavy nucleii with other, smaller nucleii. Considerable care and ingenuity has gone into the observation of the very few chemical reactions which have been performed with these elements; but even so, it is impossible to do chemistry with something which doesn't stay around long enough to react. The chemistry of the heavier elements -- meaning those with atomic number higher than about 95 -- is relatively unknown, and what exists is typically confined to quick-forming compounds such as halides. No one has ever prepared a compound of dubnium, for example, because its longest-lived isotope, ²⁶²Db, has a half-life of only 34 seconds.

Actually, 34 seconds is probably enough, given some ingenuity and a reasonable supply -- say, 10 mg -- of dubnium. I expect that compounds of dubnium will be synthesized in the near future.

On the other hand, atomic structure and the way in which it correlates to chemical reactivity is well-understood -- it is the explanation of the periodic table, which was originally a more-or-less empirical thing. Thus, even though we can't do chemical experiments with the newest elements, we still know where to put them in the periodic table.

For more information about transuranium elements, go to WebElements.

Transuranium Elements

The elements beyond uranium, that is, with atomic number higher than 92. Uranium is the heaviest naturally-occurring nuclide. Heavier nuclides are probably produced in supernovae, but are too short-lived to be found in the earth's crust. All short-lived nucleii lighter than uranium are either products of the decay of uranium (or of thorium, the other long-lived heavy nuclide), or are produced (as is ¹⁴C) by the action of cosmic rays upon the upper atmosphere.
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