Seaborgium is a synthetic element that was discovered in 1974. It is highly radioactive and unstable element.
History and Discovery
Seaborgium was synthesized for the first time by Russian team led by Yuri Oganessia working in Dubna, Russia in 1974. They bombarded lead-208 target with chromium-54 ions and produced an atom of element 116, seaborgium-260 [1]. After few months, a team of researchers including Glenn T Seaborg, Albert Ghiorso and Carol Alonso successfully produced element 116 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The team found that a new element was produced by bombarding californium-249 target with oxygen-18 ions. They observed that the seaborgium isotope emitted alpha particles and have a half-life of around 1second. The name seaborgium was given in honor of Glenn Seaborg. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry confirmed the name seaborgium in 1997 for the newly discovered element 116. The symbol of seaborgium is Sg [2].
Seaborgium
| Periodic Table Classification | Group 6 Period 7 |
|---|---|
| State at 20C | Solid (predicted) |
| Color | n/a |
| Electron Configuration | [Rn] 5f14 6d4 7s2 |
| Electron Number | 106 |
| Proton Number | 106 |
| Electron Shell | 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 12, 2 |
| Density | 35.00 g.cm-3 at 20°C (predicted) |
| Atomic number | 106 |
| Atomic Mass | 266.00 g.mol -1 |
| Electronegativity according to Pauling | n/a |
Occurrence
Seaborgium is an artificial element and does not exist in nature. Only few atoms of seaborgium have been produced till now.
Physical Characteristics
Seaborgium is predicted to be a solid under normal conditions. It is expected to attain a body-centered cubic structure at room temperature. The unstable nature of seaborgium makes it difficult to carry out a statistically significant analysis of its physical and chemical characteristics. However, seaborgium is expected to be very heavy metal and have a density of around 35 g/cm3.
Chemical Characteristics
The chemical characteristics of seaborgium have not been well studied yet. Seaborgium is a transition metal that belongs to the 6d series, 6th group and 7th period of the periodic table. It is placed below tungsten, chromium and molybdenum. Seaborgium is predicted to have chemical similarity with tungsten and molybdenum and is different from chromium. The most common and stable oxidation state of seaborgium that have been predicted to be +6 and 0 and least stable oxidations state for seaborgium will be +3 [3]. Seaborgium is predicted to form compounds with halogens, which are quite volatile in nature.
Significance and Uses
- Seaborgium is used for research purposes.
Health Effects
Seaborgium is a radioactive element and requires special precautions with handling and storage.
Isotopes of Seaborgium
There are twelve isotopes of seaborgium, with mass number ranging from 258-267, 269 and 271. They are unstable and unnatural. The heavier isotopes are more stable as compared to lighter ones, and thus serborgium-269 and seaborgim-271 have a half-life of few minutes. And the shortest half-life is of seaborgium-261, around 92 microseconds. All the isotopes of seaborgium undergo decay through emission of alpha particles and spontaneous fission, except seaborgium-261 that undergo electron capture and is transformed into dubnium-261 [4].
REFERENCES
[1]. Barber, R. C.; Greenwood, N. N.; Hrynkiewicz, A. Z.; Jeannin, Y. P.; Lefort, M.; Sakai, M.; Ulehla, I.; Wapstra, A. P.; Wilkinson, D. H. (1993). “Discovery of the transfermium elements. Part II: Introduction to discovery profiles. Part III: Discovery profiles of the transfermium elements”. Pure and Applied Chemistry. 65 (8): 1757. doi:10.1351/pac199365081757.
[2]. “106 Seaborgium”. Elements.vanderkrogt.net. Retrieved 12 September 2008
[3]. Hoffman, Darleane C.; Lee, Diana M.; Pershina, Valeria (2006). “Transactinides and the future elements”. In Morss; Edelstein, Norman M.; Fuger, Jean. The Chemistry of the Actinide and Transactinide Elements (3rd ed.). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 1-4020-3555-1.
[4]. Sonzogni, Alejandro. “Interactive Chart of Nuclides”. National Nuclear Data Center: Brookhaven National Laboratory. Retrieved 2008-06-06.ol