Rutherfordium

Ernest Rutherford2

Igor Kurchatov 001

RfCl4

Rutherfordium is a chemical element with the symbol Rf and atomic number 104. It is named after the New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford, who is known as the "father of nuclear physics." Rutherfordium is a synthetic element, and thus it is not found in nature but has to be created in a laboratory through a process called nuclear reaction.

Properties

Rutherfordium is a member of the transactinide elements and the period 7 elements in the periodic table, and it belongs to the group of elements known as the transition metals. As with other transactinide elements, rutherfordium's properties are not fully understood due to the element's radioactivity and the limited amount of production. However, it is predicted to be a solid under normal conditions and to have properties similar to its lighter homologs in group 4, such as hafnium and zirconium. This includes a high melting point and a dense metallic form.

Discovery

Rutherfordium was first reported in 1964 by a team of scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Soviet Union, and almost simultaneously by a team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, USA. The discovery was the subject of controversy for many years because both teams claimed to have first synthesized the element. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) eventually credited both teams with the discovery.

Synthesis

Rutherfordium is produced by bombarding lighter elements with ions. The most common method involves the collision of californium (Cf) with carbon (C) ions. This process yields rutherfordium isotopes, which are highly radioactive and have short half-lives, making the study of rutherfordium challenging.

Isotopes

Several isotopes of rutherfordium have been identified, with mass numbers ranging from 253 to 263. The most stable isotope, rutherfordium-267, has a half-life of about 1.3 hours, while the less stable isotopes have half-lives that are only a few seconds or less.

Applications

Due to its radioactivity and the difficulty in producing rutherfordium, it has no significant commercial applications. Its use is primarily for scientific research, particularly in the study of the properties of transactinide elements and the exploration of the periodic table's limits.

See also

• Transuranium element
• Synthetic element
• Nuclear physics

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