Hassium is a synthetic element that was discovered in 1978. It is a highly radioactive and unstable element.
History and Discovery
According to the Mendeleev’s nomenclature of undiscovered elements, hassium was named as eka-osmium or element-108. The efforts to create hassium started in 1978, when a team of scientists led by Yuri Oganessian at The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna, Russia [1]. They did not achieve the desired results. Later in 1984, Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg who worked at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI; Institute for Heavy Ion Research) Germany, bombarded a lead target with nuclei of iron and produced three atoms the 108 element, hassium-265. The element was named hassium after the Hassia, which is the Latin name for German state Hesse where GSI institute was located. The name was suggested by Peter Armbruster in 1992. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry approved the name hassium in 1997. Its symbol is Ha.
Hassium
| Periodic Table Classification | Group 8 Period 7 |
|---|---|
| State at 20C | Solid (predicted) |
| Color | Silvery (predicted) |
| Electron Configuration | [Rn] 5f14 6d6 7s2 |
| Electron Number | 108 |
| Proton Number | 108 |
| Electron Shell | 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 14, 2 |
| Density | 41.00 g.cm-3 at 20°C (predicted) |
| Atomic number | 108 |
| Atomic Mass | 277.00 g.mol -1 |
| Electronegativity according to Pauling | n/a |
Occurrence
Hassium is an artificial element and does not exist in nature. Around a hundred atoms of hassium have been synthesized till date [2].
Physical Characteristics
Hassium is a silvery metal and predicted to be a solid under normal conditions. It is expected to have a density of around 40.7 g/cm3, which make it the heaviest of all known 118 known elements. The amount of hassium produced so far and the short half-life of hassium has made it difficult to carry out analysis of its physical and chemical characteristics.
Chemical Characteristics
The chemical characteristics of hassium are not well studied yet. It is predicted to chemically resemble osmium, ruthenium and iron. It is expected to readily react with oxygen and form a tetroxide that is highly volatile. Hassium has been placed in the 6d series of transition metal. It is a member of the group 8 and 7th period of the periodic table. The most stable oxidation state of hassium has been proposed to be +8.
Significance and Uses
- Hassium is used for research purposes.
Health Hazards
Hassium is a radioactive element and requires special precautions with handling and storage.
Isotopes of Hassium
There are twelve isotopes of hassium, that range in atomic masses from 263 to 277. They are unstable and unnatural. Most of the radioisotopes decay through the emission of alpha particles while some undergo spontaneous fission [3]. The most stable isotope is hassium-270 is which half-life of around tensecondsd.
REFERENCES
[1]. Oganessian, Yu. Ts.; Ter-Akopian, G. M.; Pleve, A. A.; et al. (1978). Опыты по синтезу 108 элемента в реакции 226Ra + 48Ca [Experiments on the synthesis of element 108 in the 226Ra+48Ca reaction] (PDF) (Report) (in Russian). Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
[2]. Emsley, John (2011). Nature’s Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements (New ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 215–7. ISBN 978-0-19-960563-7.
[3]. Office of Science, Nations Work Together to Discover New Element,.