Lawrencium
Lawrencium is a synthetic, highly radioactive metal and the last member of the actinide series. Named after the inventor of the cyclotron — the very type of machine used to create most of the elements around it — it has no practical use and exists only to round out scientific understanding of the actinides.
- Group · Period
- — · 7
- At room temp
- solid
- Melts at
- 1900 K
- Density
- Not yet available
- Discovered
- 1961
Uses
Lawrencium has no practical use outside of research. It has only ever been produced a small number of atoms at a time, decays within roughly a minute at best, and has no realistic path to any commercial or industrial application. Its significance is purely as the final entry in the actinide series, useful to researchers for what it reveals about the boundary between the actinides and the row of elements that follows.
History
Lawrencium was first reported in 1961 by Albert Ghiorso and colleagues at Berkeley, who produced it by bombarding californium with boron ions. Researchers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna also reported evidence for the element in later years, and the two claims took time to fully reconcile — an early instance of the credit disputes that would become far more heated for the elements immediately following it. It was named after Ernest O. Lawrence, whose cyclotron invention made discoveries like this one possible in the first place.
Fun facts
- Lawrencium is named after Ernest O. Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron, the particle accelerator used to synthesize most of the elements on this list.
- It's the final member of the actinide series — element 104 begins an entirely new row of the periodic table.
- Its discovery was claimed by both Berkeley and Dubna laboratories in the 1960s, foreshadowing the naming disputes that followed for the elements after it.
Frequently asked questions
Does lawrencium have any practical use?
No, lawrencium has no commercial or industrial use. It has been made only in extremely small numbers of atoms, purely to study its nuclear and chemical properties.
Why is lawrencium the last actinide?
The actinide series corresponds to the filling of the 5f electron subshell, and that process completes at element 103. Element 104 begins filling a different subshell, starting the next row of transition-metal-like elements.
Who is lawrencium named after?
Ernest O. Lawrence, the physicist who invented the cyclotron in the 1930s. That invention became the essential tool for creating nearly every synthetic element discovered at Berkeley, lawrencium included.
Isotopes
13 known isotopes
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| Isotope | Natural abundance | Half-life | Decay mode | Mass excess | Binding energy / nucleon | Decay width |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lr-262 | — | 4 h | Spontaneous fission (10%), Alpha decay, Electron capture / beta-plus decay | 102,105 keV | 7,374 keV | 3.17 × 10-20 eV |
| Lr-264 | — | 4.9 h | Spontaneous fission (100%) | 106,375 keV | 7,363 keV | 2.59 × 10-20 eV |
| Lr-266 | — | 11 h | Spontaneous fission (100%) | 111,662 keV | 7,349 keV | 1.15 × 10-20 eV |
Show all 13 isotopes
| Lr-252 | — | 0.33 s | Electron capture / beta-plus decay (60%), Alpha decay (40%), Spontaneous fission (2%) | 88,537 keV | 7,400 keV | 1.38 × 10-15 eV |
| Lr-253 | — | 0.57 s | Alpha decay (98.7%), Spontaneous fission (1.3%) | 88,523.47 keV | 7,402.92 keV | 8.00 × 10-16 eV |
| Lr-254 | — | 18.1 s | Alpha decay (71.7%), Electron capture / beta-plus decay (28.3%), Spontaneous fission (0.1%) | 89,645.89 keV | 7,401.13 keV | 2.52 × 10-17 eV |
| Lr-255 | — | 31.1 s | Alpha decay (99.7%), Electron capture (0.3%), Spontaneous fission (0.1%) | 89,947.31 keV | 7,402.58 keV | 1.47 × 10-17 eV |
| Lr-256 | — | 27.9 s | Alpha decay (85%), Electron capture (15%), Spontaneous fission (0.03%) | 91,746.6 keV | 7,398.16 keV | 1.64 × 10-17 eV |
| Lr-257 | — | 4 s | Alpha decay (100%), Electron capture (15%), Spontaneous fission (0.033%) | 92,665 keV | 7,397 keV | 1.14 × 10-16 eV |
| Lr-258 | — | 3.92 s | Alpha decay (97.4%), Electron capture (2.6%) | 94,782 keV | 7,392 keV | 1.16 × 10-16 eV |
| Lr-259 | — | 6.2 s | Alpha decay (78%), Spontaneous fission (22%) | 95,851 keV | 7,390 keV | 7.36 × 10-17 eV |
| Lr-260 | — | 180 s | Alpha decay (80%), Electron capture (40%) | 98,277 keV | 7,383 keV | 2.53 × 10-18 eV |
| Lr-261 | — | 39 m | Spontaneous fission | 99,557 keV | 7,381 keV | 1.95 × 10-19 eV |