Livermorium (Lv)
Livermorium (Lv) is a synthetic and highly radioactive element with the atomic number 116 and a relative atomic weight of 293. It was first synthesized on December 6, 2000, by a collaborative team of researchers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States. Livermorium is placed in Group 16 of the periodic table, along with other elements like polonium, and it is theorized to exhibit metallic characteristics, although its physical and chemical properties remain largely unknown due to its extremely short half-life of approximately 0.6 milliseconds.
The most stable isotope of livermorium is livermorium-293, which has a half-life of 53 milliseconds and undergoes alpha decay to flevorium-289. As a member of the chalcogen group, livermorium is expected to share some chemical similarities with polonium, but due to its limited availability—only a few atoms can be produced at a time—there are currently no known commercial or biological applications for this element. Livermorium’s primary significance lies in its role in advanced nuclear research and the study of superheavy elements.
Subject Terms
Livermorium (Lv)
- Element Symbol: Lv
- Atomic Number: 116
- Atomic Mass: [293]
- Group # in Periodic Table: 16
- Group Name: No information
- Period in Periodic Table: 7
- Block of Periodic Table: p-block
- Discovered by: Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia (2000)
Livermorium is a highly radioactive synthetic element with the chemical symbol Lv. Its atomic number is 116, and its relative atomic weight is 293. Livermorium is also known as element 116, and in the past, it was sometimes called moscovium or ununhexium. In the periodic table, it is placed within Group 16 of Period 7, along with the elements ununpentium on the left and ununseptium on the right. This category of the periodic table contains elements that were created in the early years of the twenty-first century, and not all of them have been given their permanent names yet. The electronic configuration of livermorium is [Rn] 5f146d107s27p4, where Rn stands for the element radon.
Livermorium was discovered on December 6, 2000, by researchers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia; they were teamed with researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The teams bombarded atoms of the element curium-248 with ions of calcium-48, and this process produced livermorium-292 plus four free neutrons. Livermorium’s half-life was found to be a mere 0.6 milliseconds. The element livermorium is named after the facility where it was produced—that is, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Although it was discovered in 2000, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) did not recognize it until June 2011, at which time the organization formally began to consider a permanent name for the element. Livermorium’s discoverers proposed an official name in December 2011, pending approval by the IUPAC. The element flevorium, along with livermorium, was also presented to the IUPAC for consideration during the same period by the same group of researchers. These names honor the personal contribution of the researchers from these facilities, who have labored in the field of nuclear science and superheavy element research. The names also honor the teamwork and alliance between the scientists of the two countries—specifically, the United States and Russia.
There had been several unsuccessful efforts to make livermorium or element 116 before the year 2000. In 1998, a physicist from Poland, Robert Smolanczuk, published his computations on the fusion of atomic nuclei to synthesize superheavy atoms such as ununoctium and livermorium. Furthermore, in 1999, news of the discovery of livermorium and ununoctium was published in the Physical Review Letters by researchers working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. However, no other scientists or researchers were able to duplicate their calculations.
Physical Properties
Livermorium is a synthetic element, meaning that it can only be made in laboratories. Thus, little is known about this element because of its exceptionally short half-life. It is theorized that it will look like a metal. The standard state of an element is defined as its state at 298 kelvin (K). It is also theorized that livermorium is a solid at this temperature. The electrons in the outermost shell are highly unstable, making livermorium extremely radioactive. The physical properties, such as melting point, boiling point, and density are unknown at present.
Chemical Properties
Likewise, little is known about the chemical properties of livermorium. Four isotopes of livermorium have been found, with atomic weights from 290 through 293. Of these isotopes, the most stable is livermorium-293, with a half-life of 53 milliseconds. This particular isotope undergoes alpha decay to become flevorium-289. Alpha decay is a type of radioactive decay in which the nucleus of the unstable atom loses two protons and two neutrons to become stable. These two protons and two neutrons together are called an alpha particle. During the process of alpha decay, a larger unstable nucleus turns into a smaller, more stable nucleus.
Livermorium, the heaviest element of Group 16, is positioned below polonium. Thus, the chemical properties are presumed to be similar to those of polonium. Elements in Group 16 of the periodic table include oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and the aforementioned polonium and livermorium. The elements of this group are termed the posttransition metals. These metals and the transition metals have similar properties, but the posttransition metals, in contrast to their transition metal counterparts, tend to be softer and conduct heat and electricity poorly.
Livermorium can also be categorized as a chalcogen. The name chalcogen has been derived from the Greek word for ore-former; in Greek, chalcos means "ore" and gen means "formations." These elements have six valence electrons in their highest energy orbitals.
The primary hurdle in finding the chemical properties of chalcogens is the lack of known isotopes of the element that are long-lived enough to study them.
Applications
Because livermorium can currently be manufactured only a few atoms at a time and because only a few atoms have ever been produced, large-scale production is currently impossible. Hence, it becomes quite challenging to study the characteristics of the element and use it. As recently as 2015, scientists had discovered no commercial or biological uses for the element. Consequently, its applications are restricted to basic research.
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