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Kit Chapman.
Superheavy: making and breaking the periodic table.
Bloomsbury. 2019

Creating an element is no easy feat. It’s the equivalent of firing six trillion bullets a second at a needle in a haystack, hoping a bullet and the needle somehow fuse together, then catching it in less than a thousandth of a second after which it’s gone forever. Welcome to the world of the superheavy elements, a realm where scientists use giant machines trying to make single atoms of mysterious artefacts that have never existed on Earth.

From the first elements past uranium and their role in the development of the atomic bomb to the latest discoveries stretching the chemical world, Superheavy reveals the hidden stories lurking at the edges of the periodic table. Why did the US Air Force fly planes into mushroom clouds? Who won the transfermium wars? How did an earthquake help give Japan its first element? And what happened when Superman almost spilled US nuclear secrets?

In a globe-trotting adventure that stretches from the United States to Russia, Sweden to Australia, Superheavy is your guide to the amazing science filling in the missing pieces of the periodic table. You’ll not only marvel at how nuclear science has changed our lives – you’ll wonder where it’s going to take us in the future.