Answer:
- Accelerate
- Collide
- Separate
- Detect
Step-by-step explanation:
Accelerate:
A linear particle accelerator at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, accelerates a beam of ionized titanium down a 400-foot tube at more than 67 million miles per hour—10 percent of the speed of light.
Collide:
For five months, the ionized titanium beam smashed into a target studded with berkelium atoms. Scientists predict that once every few billion impacts, a titanium atom, which has 22 protons, collided with the target at just the right speed and position to fuse with a berkelium atom, which has 97 protons, creating a new atom with 119 protons.
Separate
The newly formed superheavy atoms are more massive and move much more slowly—only 2 percent of the speed of light—than the ionized titanium. They also respond differently to a magnetic field. Using powerful magnets, scientists can steer element 119 away from the titanium and toward a detector.
Detect
Atoms of element 119 embed themselves in a silicon detector. The new element is radioactive, and while it is in the detector, it gives off alpha particles—two protons and two neutrons—in a predictable fashion. The detector registers these decays, which scientists use to prove the existence of the new element.