Flerovium

Flerovium is a <a href="/facts/Synthetic_element/azU9Nr1m">synthetic</a> <a href="/facts/Chemical_element/0jducgWD">chemical element</a>; it has <a href="/facts/Chemical_symbol/2Fe1VAL0">symbol</a> Fl and <a href="/facts/Atomic_number/bgAr581S">atomic number</a> 114. It is an extremely <a href="/facts/Radioactive/Ya6FVjt4">radioactive</a>, <a href="/facts/Transactinide_element/9PjYvCc3">superheavy</a> element, named after the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the <a href="/facts/Joint_Institute_for_Nuclear_Research/JrSF8sQQ">Joint Institute for Nuclear Research</a> in <a href="/facts/Dubna/mn37rc4l">Dubna</a>, Russia, where the element was discovered in 1999. The lab's name, in turn, honours Russian physicist <a href="/facts/Georgy_Flyorov/qhcQHs2q">Georgy Flyorov</a> (Флёров in <a href="/facts/Cyrillic_alphabet/0btN3oWC">Cyrillic</a>, hence the transliteration of "<a href="/facts/Yo_(Cyrillic)/o0efFoz2">yo</a>" to "e"). <a href="/facts/International_Union_of_Pure_and_Applied_Chemistry/2AV6myCK">IUPAC</a> adopted the name on 30 May 2012. The name and symbol had previously been proposed for element 102 (<a href="/facts/Nobelium/syRkloSw">nobelium</a>) but were not accepted by IUPAC at that time.
It is a transactinide in the <a href="/facts/P-block/BbzD5jUU">p-block</a> of the <a href="/facts/Periodic_table/umdGIfUb">periodic table</a>. It is in <a href="/facts/Period_7_element/H5QuVHGQ">period 7</a> and is the heaviest known member of the <a href="/facts/Carbon_group/PkWCV3Vx">carbon group</a>. Initial chemical studies in 2007–2008 indicated that flerovium was unexpectedly volatile for a group 14 element. More recent results show that flerovium's reaction with <a href="/facts/Gold/1znknojp">gold</a> is similar to that of <a href="/facts/Copernicium/EhgyBkg0">copernicium</a>, showing it is very <a href="/facts/Volatility_(chemistry)/90r3ep6w">volatile</a> and may even be <a href="/facts/Gas/hVVAoodV">gaseous</a> at <a href="/facts/Standard_temperature_and_pressure/JhJv9KFJ">standard temperature and pressure</a>. Nonetheless, it also seems to show some <a href="/facts/Metal/pqQVs8QU">metallic</a> properties, consistent with it being the heavier <a href="/facts/Homologous_series/7PKCuvzm">homologue</a> of <a href="/facts/Lead/EYljasJN">lead</a>.
Very little is known about flerovium, as it can only be produced one atom at a time, either through direct synthesis or through <a href="/facts/Radioactive_decay/Ya6FVjt4">radioactive decay</a> of even heavier elements, and all known isotopes are short-lived. Six <a href="/facts/Isotopes_of_flerovium/6zApqu7L">isotopes of flerovium</a> are known, ranging in <a href="/facts/Mass_number/VyBbJ1oI">mass number</a> between 284 and 289; the most stable of these, 289Fl, has a <a href="/facts/Half-life/kGVH8BAB">half-life</a> of ~2.1 seconds, but the unconfirmed 290Fl may have a longer half-life of 19 seconds, which would be one of the longest half-lives of any <a href="/facts/Nuclide/97Ykvzr3">nuclide</a> in these farthest reaches of the periodic table. Flerovium is predicted to be near the centre of the theorized <a href="/facts/Island_of_stability/XuxQzqjL">island of stability</a>, and it is expected that heavier flerovium isotopes, especially the possibly <a href="/facts/Magic_number_(physics)/v9PwXFzQ">magic</a> 298Fl, may have even longer half-lives.

Flerovium open-in-new

Flerovium