Flerovium
Atomic Number: 114
Flerovium is the 114th element in the periodic table and it is estimated to be a post-transition metal. It is an element, like many other with a big atomic number, which we don't know much about. It is predicted to be a silvery white or pale grey solid. It is an extremely radioactive element which only a few atoms of it have ever been made. Flerovium doesn't have any use other than research. It also has no known biological role. There are five known isotopes of this element, the most stable being flerovium-288 with a half-life of 64 seconds. This element is an artificial element which means it doesn't occur naturally. It is made by the fusion of calcium-48 with plutonium-244. Calcium ions were formed into a beam in the U400 cyclotron, a type of particle accelerator. They accelerate the calcium ions at 10% the speed of light. They used this strategy to discover this element. Flerovium was first discovered by scientists working at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia in 1998. It is named after the a lab within this institute of nuclear research. |
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