Chemistry World visited the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to meet some of the scientists who study superheavy metals. In this series of vidoes we ask them how they do it, how many more elements do they think they can make, and what led them to this field of study. They also tell us about their latest projects in which they will attempt to measure the masses of single atoms and perform chemistry on these short-lived elements.

In this video, Ken Gregorich and Jackie Gates from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory explain how they make and detect superheavy elements.

 

The element makers: Making superheavy elements