#transactinide

[chemicalelementaryschool]

This is Copernecium! Copernecium was first discovered by researchers in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1996, and was named in 2009. With an atomic number of 112, it’s not surprising that Copernecium has a short half-life. As he is named after Nicholaus Copernicus, the multi-talented scientist and philosopher who proposed the first major heliocentric model of the solar system, Copernecium’s main hobby is astronomy, but he also is interested in mathematics and economics. Copernecium is enthusiastic about his interests and is an interesting fellow to talk to, but he can sometimes come off as being too serious.

[chemicalelementaryschool]

This is Hassium! Hassium is a synthetic and radioactive element, and was officially discovered by a team lead by Peter Armbuster and Gottfried Münzenberg at the Institute for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1984. Hassium is named after “Hassia”, the Latin name for the German state of Hesse, where the city of Darmstadt is located. Her design is based off of the flag and the coat of arms of Hesse, which is reflected in her colour scheme, her crown, and the lion motif on her shirt. Despite Hassium’s longest-lived isotope (hassium-269) having a half-life of less than 10 seconds, there have been quite a number of experiments done on it, such as the formation of hassium tetroxide (HsO4), an acid-base reaction of hassium tetroxide with sodium hydroxide, and even the formation of an organometallic compound. So, Hassium is a popular and likeable element, but she is also very shy and enigmatic, which means that she doesn’t have the courage to stay at any social gathering for long. Nevertheless, she has a good heart and hopes to get over her shyness one day. 

[chemicalelementaryschool]

This is Bohrium! Bohrium is a synthetic radioactive element (its longest-living isotope has a half-life of 10 seconds), and it has two discoverers-- a Russian team lead by Yuri Oganessian (who first reported finding the element in 1976) and a German team lead by Peter Armbuster and Gottfried Münzenberg. IUPAC recognized the German team as Bohrium’s official discoverers. Bohrium is named after Danish physicist Niels Bohr, who is most famous for developing the Bohr Model of the Atom. This is why Bohrium appears to be holding an atom, drawn in a way that reflects the Bohr Model. Bohrium is a quiet fellow who is fond of both science and philosophy, similar to the physicist he was named after. 

[chemicalelementaryschool]

This is Rutherfordium! He is named after Ernest Rutherford, the Nobel-prize winning physicist who (amongst other things), discovered the atomc nucleus and created the Rutherford model of the atom. Rutherfordium is a synthetic D-block transactinide element, and was discovered in the 1960s by scientists in California and in the former Soviet Union. Rutherfordium is a quiet and studious fellow, and his outfit is based off this statue of Ernest Rutherford as a child in New Zealand. 

[chemicalelementaryschool]

This is Meitnerium! Meitnerium is a D-block transactinide element, and its most stable isotope, meitnerium-278, has a half-life of 7.6 seconds. It was named after Lise Meitner, an Austrian physicist who was one of the discoverers of protactinium, and also one of the discoverers of nuclear fission. Like the scientist she is named after, Meitnerium is devoted to physics and is a talented physicist. 

[chemicalelementaryschool]

This is Dubnium! She is named after the town of Dubna, home of the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, where dubnium was first discovered. Dubnium is a transactinide element and is believed to have properties similar to tantalum, the element that lies above it on the periodic table. This means that while Dubnium is quiet, many of the other elements believe that she has a mischievous streak similar to Tantalum. 

[elements-and-minerals]

Livermorium

Livermorium (Lv) is transactinide element 116 and is also sometimes referred to as ununhexium (Uuh) which was its latin placeholder name until livermorium was proposed and adopted in May 2012 by IUPAC. Its most stable isotope is Lv-293, with a half-life of just 53 milliseconds. It then decays into flerovium.  

It was first syntheisesd in late 2000, by scientists at the research facilities in Dubna, Russia, and also in America, at the Lawrence Livermore lab. It was produced by bombarding atoms of curium-248 with calcium-48 ions. This produced Lv-292, which has a half-life of 0.6 milliseconds. Livermorium is predicted to be a solid at room temperature.

Sources:

http://www.pa.uky.edu/~peter/newpage/content/elm116.html

http://plaza.ufl.edu/eric1987/periodic%20table/uuh.htm

http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/read/fall-2012/labscopes/

http://www.iupac.org/news/news-detail/article/element-114-is-named-flerovium-and-element-116-is-named-livermorium.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/116/livermorium

[elements-and-minerals]

Rutherfordium

Rutherfordium is element 104 and belongs in the seventh period as a transactinide. it behaves similarly to zirconium and hafnium. It is purely synthetic; made by bombarding plutonium with neon ions accelerated to 113- 115 MeV.

However,to produce the rutherfordium isotope Rf-257, which has a half-life of 4-5 seconds, one needs to bombard 249Cf  with 12C ions at 71 MeV. In 1964, soviet researchers in Dubna, Russia, detected a short-lived isotope that they thought might be element 104. However it wasn't until Albert Ghiorso in 1969 with his team at Berkeley, California that Rutherfordium was positively identified.

Rutherfordium was named after New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford who was an early pioneer in radioactivity and proposed his atomic model, which overturned Thomson's 'plum pudding' model and revolutionised atomic science.

However, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics/Chemistry (IUPAP/C) proposed the temporary neutral name, unnilquadium (114) and later suggested that the name dubnium, with symbol Db, be used. Nevertheless, in 1997, the (IUPAP/C) decided that, after years of discussion of the names to be given to elements 104-107, it would instead be called rutherfordium. 

Sources:

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/lab/ptl/Elements/Rf/Rf.html

http://www.sunysccc.edu/academic/mst/ptable/unq.html

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/104/rutherfordium

http://chemistry.mtu.edu/~pcharles/SCIHISTORY/Rutherford.html