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Ununbium is a synthetic element (number 112) produced from the fusion of lead and zinc. It took German scientists several weeks to produce one atom of this element by bombarding billions and billions of zinc atoms at a lead target. This successful fusion took place on February 9, 1996. Its synthesis raised scientists' optimism for penetrating further into the region of super heavy atoms.
Few atoms of ununbium have been synthesized as this element decays after a fraction of a thousandth of a second, emitting alpha particles – fast-moving helium-like particles – to produce element 110. Eventually, darmstadtium (element 110) dissociates to fermium (element 100) through the intermediate production of hassium (element 108).