Darmstadtium is a chemical element with symbol Ds and atomic number 110. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element. The most stable known isotope, darmstadtium-281, has a half-life of approximately 10 seconds.
Three reasons Darmstadtium stands out
- 1
Named after German city known for it's wedding tower.
- 2
It was first created in 1994 by a team of German researchers using a heavy-ion accelerator.
- 3
Only a handful of atoms have ever been produced, each surviving for only microseconds before decaying.
A city commemorated by a few fleeting atoms
Darmstadtium was created at the GSI laboratory in Darmstadt by fusing nickel and lead nuclei. The experiment identified only a handful of decay chains, yet that evidence was enough to establish element 110. Predictions place it below platinum, modified by strong relativistic effects.