Atoms & Art: Bohrium

Atoms & Art

Bohrium

My element for this project was Bohrium, with the atomic number of 107 and atomic symbol of Bh.  Bohrium was first discovered in 1976 at the Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia by Yuri Oganessian, and the element was confirmed in 1981 by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenber at the GSI particle  accelerator (Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung) in Darmstadt, Germany. It was created by bombarding Bismuth with Chromium in both labs, but since the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) said that GSI’s discovery claim was more credible than JINR, GSI were awarded the discovery despite JINR likely discovering it first.  The element was named after Niels Bohr, a danish physicist and Nobel prize receiver in 1922 for physics, who made contributions to our knowledge on atomic structure and quantum theory. Bohrium does not have any real life uses and it has only been produced in minute quantities in particle accelerators. Little is actually known about what Bohrium other than it is a highly radioactive metal and it is solid at room temperature,  as its half-life is only a few seconds long.

The idea I got for the imagery of my element came from the knowledge that it was created in a particle accelerator, so I decided to sketch up an image of two particles colliding and creating many new particles and elements.  To print the sketch, I first needed to trace the original sketch on tracing paper, then transfer that over to the foam board backwards and essentially etching the positive space. I would then roll the paint onto the brayer and roll it onto the foam board.  Then I would place a piece of paper on top of it and apply even pressure on the paper to transfer the ink. I would occasionally lift up the corner or the side of the paper to see where more pressure was needed to be applied and then the paper was removed and left to dry.  If I were to make the print a second time, I would’ve put more texture onto the motion trails of the particles as on the print, it is just solid color. I would’ve also printed multiple colors if I wasn’t already past the printing stage by that point. I enjoyed doing the printing the most, and specifically rolling out the paint as it was satisfying to do and it was the most hands on step of the process.