"Superatoms" Mimic Elements: Research Reveals New Perspective of Periodic Table

[daniel-cussen]

"It looks like we can predict which combinations of elemental atoms mimic other elemental atoms," he said. "For example, by looking at the periodic table, you can predict that titanium monoxide will be a superatom of nickel. Simply start at titanium, which has four outer-shell electrons, and move six elements to the right, because atomic oxygen possesses six outer-shell electrons. The element you end up on is nickel, whose 10 outer-shell electrons make it isoelectronic with the 10 outer-shell electron molecule resulting from the combination of titanium and oxygen. We thought this finding must be a curious coincidence, so we tried it with other atoms and we found that a pattern emerged."

It's curious how genius appears obvious in hindsight.

[Retric]

I thought that's why the periodic table was setup to look like it does in the first place. AKA right side are the noble gases http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas

And on the left side the alkali metals Rubidium, Sodium and Lithium all both useful for batteries. (Lithium is significantly lighter, but Rubidium is more abundant etc.)

[Perceval]

FTA: "This research was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research."

Interesting to see the kind of practical basic research being done by the military. Their website is interesting: http://www.wpafb.af.mil/AFRL/afosr/

[cmars232]

I could see applications of this being very useful for military and peaceful solutions, especially if superatom chemistry can replace the demand for rare-earth elements.

[RK]

DOD branches fund lots of "basic applied science" research.

[pavel_lishin]

Hasn't a lot of scientific advance come about as a direct result of military research?

[ShardPhoenix]

This is interesting, but it seems so simple that if it actually works (ie if you can actually substitute tungsten carbide for platinum or zirconium monoxide for palladium), it's quite surprising that no-one has noticed this before.

[raphar]

The superatoms share all the same properties than the original atom? I've plutonium & uranium in mind...

[ShardPhoenix]

No - radioactivity/nuclear reactions are properties of the nucleus of an atom, whereas the chemical properties mimicked by these "superatoms" are the result of their outer electrons.

[btilly]

No.

But since most chemical properties of an atom are set by the outer valence shell, there is a good chance that the superatom will share many chemical properties with the mimiced atom.

[bioweek]

I wonder if this could be used for better batteries, or capacitors?

Or how about for better superconductors?