Friday, October 19, 2012

Nobelium - Element of the Week from 10/12-10/19


            In honor of the Nobel prizes being awarded this past week, I have decided to cover Nobelium. This element was named after Alfred Nobel, who is the creator of dynamite and is also the man who created/funded the prestigious Nobel prizes.
            Nobelium is a synthetic and radioactive metal, with the atomic number of 102. Its atomic weight is believed to be 259,its melting point is 827 degrees Celcius, and its boiling point is unknown.  
            Nobelium has been a finicky element to isolate. A group in Sweden in 1957 claimed to have discovered an element, which they named Nobelium. It is surprising that element 102 kept the same name because this research had been determined faulty. The credit for the actual discovery of element 102 was given to a research group at the University of Berkely , who researhced from 1958–1964, in 1966. This group decided to retain the name honoring Alfred Nobel.
            There are no truly stable isotopes of Nobelium. The most stable isotope of Nobelium, Nobelium-259, has a half-life of approximately 58 minutes. Only infinitesimal amounts of Nobelium have ever been produced, there are no uses of it outside of scientific research. 

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