Rutherfordium

Rutherfordium is a <a href="/facts/Synthetic_element/azU9Nr1m">synthetic chemical element</a>; it has <a href="/facts/Chemical_symbol/2Fe1VAL0">symbol</a> Rf and <a href="/facts/Atomic_number/bgAr581S">atomic number</a> 104. It is named after <a href="/facts/Physicist/cQcgvSIm">physicist</a> <a href="/facts/Ernest_Rutherford/hjjMEskl">Ernest Rutherford</a>. As a synthetic element, it is not found in nature and can only be made in a <a href="/facts/Particle_accelerator/Pkuc08xC">particle accelerator</a>. It is <a href="/facts/Radioactive/Ya6FVjt4">radioactive</a>; the most stable known <a href="/facts/Isotope/KD9B1y6o">isotope</a>, 267Rf, has a <a href="/facts/Half-life/kGVH8BAB">half-life</a> of about 48 minutes.
In the <a href="/facts/Periodic_table/umdGIfUb">periodic table</a>, it is a <a href="/facts/D-block/BbzD5jUU">d-block</a> element and the second of the fourth-row <a href="/facts/Transition_element/0slGWoLQ">transition elements</a>. It is in <a href="/facts/Period_7/H5QuVHGQ">period 7</a> and is a <a href="/facts/Group_4_element/QGKs7lMz">group 4 element</a>. Chemistry experiments have confirmed that rutherfordium behaves as the heavier <a href="/facts/Homologous_series/7PKCuvzm">homolog</a> to <a href="/facts/Hafnium/rBNnlxDS">hafnium</a> in group 4. The chemical properties of rutherfordium are characterized only partly. They compare well with the other group 4 elements, even though some calculations had indicated that the element might show significantly different properties due to <a href="/facts/Relativistic_quantum_chemistry/8A1se1CS">relativistic effects</a>.
In the 1960s, small amounts of rutherfordium were produced at <a href="/facts/Joint_Institute_for_Nuclear_Research/JrSF8sQQ">Joint Institute for Nuclear Research</a> in the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> and at <a href="/facts/Lawrence_Berkeley_National_Laboratory/tvjPSwC9">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</a> in <a href="/facts/California/zLW2vdQJ">California</a>. Priority of discovery and hence the name of the element <a href="/facts/Element_naming_controversy/vBWIPQ9k">was disputed</a> between Soviet and American scientists, and it was not until 1997 that the <a href="/facts/International_Union_of_Pure_and_Applied_Chemistry/2AV6myCK">International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry</a> (IUPAC) established rutherfordium as the official name of the element.

Rutherfordium open-in-new

Rutherfordium