Livermorium is a synthetic superheavy element with symbol Lv and atomic number 116. It is an extremely radioactive element that has only been created in the laboratory and has not been observed in nature. The element is named after the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States, which collaborated with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia to discover livermorium in 2000.
Three reasons Livermorium stands out
- 1
Named after Californian city.
- 2
It was first synthesised in 2000 through a collaboration between a Russian laboratory and a US national laboratory.
- 3
Its most stable known isotope has a half-life of only about 61 milliseconds.
A transatlantic collaboration in one name
Livermorium recognizes Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and its collaboration with researchers at Dubna. Calcium ions striking curium targets produced the first identified atoms. Positioned below polonium, livermorium is expected to be metallic, though no experiment has observed a bulk phase.