Rutherfordium
Rutherfordium: A Brief History
Rutherfordium was first synthesized at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia leading to the name dubnium.
The name was later changed to Kurchatovium in honor of Russian scientist Igor Vasilevich Kurchatov (1903-1960) a leading transactinide researcher.
In 1969 the Berkeley lab in Berkeley California proved that the Russians had not actually discovered element 104 but they had discovered element 105.
So, the Berkeley lab asks for a name change. Many names were proposed including: Unnilquadium, Dubnium and Rutherfordium.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry adopted Unnilquadium as a temporary name for element 104.
Isaac Zukin
A year later then name was changed to the name was changed to Rutherfordium, the name that sticks to Element 104 today.
Fun Facts
There are very few atoms of Rutherfordium in existence!
There are no common household uses for Rutherfordium.
Rutherfordium is a transactinide element which means super heavy.
Rutherfordium is a radioactive element, meaning it has radioactive properties.
Rutherfordium Vital Statistics
Rutherdfordium is in the 4th group, 7th period.
Rutherfordium has an electron configuration of:
1s 2s2p6 3s2p6d10 4s2p6d10f14 5s2p6d10f14 6s2p6d2 7s2
Atomic Mass Average: 261
Boiling Point: 5800K
Melting Point: 2400K
Number of Neutrons (most common/stable nuclide): 157
Number of Protons: 104
Because there are no found uses for rutherfordium, there have been no isolation, purification or mining techniques developed.
Rutherfordium is created by bombarding atoms of plutonium and MeV neon atoms.
A group of rutherfordium atoms.
The atomic structure of rutherfordium.
Isolation and Purification
Creation
Researchers who discovered rutherfordium (Berkeley lab)