Chemical Formula
Lr
Background
Lawrencium was discovered by four American scientists, Robert M. Latimer, Almon E. Larsh, Torbjørn Sikkeland and Albert Ghiorso in 1961 at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in California. The scientists bombarded 3 mg of californium containing four different isotopes of californium with boron ions in a linear accelerator. From this, several isotopes of lawrencium were obtained.
However, the scientists were unable to identify the exact mass of the isotope. Later, studies suggested that the lawrencium isotope produced during 1961 experiment was lawrencium-258.
Basic Information
| Name |
Lawrencium |
| Symbol |
Lr |
| Atomic number |
103 |
| Atomic weight |
262 amu |
| Standard state |
Presumably a solid at 298 K |
| CAS Registry ID |
22537-19-5 |
| Group in periodic table |
3 |
| Period in periodic table |
7 |
| Block in periodic table |
d-block |
| Color |
Unknown, but probably metallic and silvery white or grey in appearance |
| Classification |
Metallic |
| Melting point |
1900 K (1627°C or 2961°F) |
| Boiling point |
Unknown |
| Density |
Unknown |
| Phase at room temperature |
Solid |
Occurrence
Lawrencium does not occur naturally.
Isotopes
Lawrencium has 10 isotopes with known half-lives and mass numbers in the range of 253 to 262. It has no naturally occurring isotopes. 262Lr is the longest-lived isotope with a half-life of 216 min followed by 261Lr with a half-life of 39 min and 260Lr with a half-life of 180 s.
Production
- Lawrencium is generally produced by nuclear bombardment, but only a very small amount has been produced so far.
- Irradiation of californium-249 with boron-11 ions can create lawrencium-256.
- Irradiation of berkelium-249 with oxygen-18 ions can create lawrencium-260.
Lawrencium - Periodic Table of Videos
Key Properties
The key properties of lawrencium are listed below:
- It is a synthetic, highly radioactive metal
- It has a short half-life
- It exists as a trivalent ion in aqueous solution.
Applications
Other than scientific research, lawrencium has no specific applications currently.
References
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