Rutherfordium (Rf) | AMERICAN ELEMENTS ®

About Rutherfordium

Rutherfordium was produced in the 1960s in labs in California and the Soviet Union, and both claimed its discovery. Due to the competing claims, the IUPAC gave element 106 the temporary systemic name Unnilquadium (Unq); the proposed names by the Soviets and the Americans were respectively Kurchatovium (Ku) in honor of Igor Kurchatov, head of Soviet nuclear research, and Rutherfordium, in honor of Ernest Rutherford, who is known as the father of nuclear physics and modern atomic theory. In 1997 the dispute was resolved by assigning the name of Rutherfordium to element 106 and Dubnium to 105 in honor of the location of the Soviet Joint Institute of Nuclear Research.

Rutherfordium is a radioactive material with an extremely short half-life, and only small amounts have been produced. The chemical properties are not fully known, but based on its position on the periodic table as the first transactinide element, its basic properties are predicted to be similar to the other elements in period 4 such as zirconium and hafnium. It is predicted to be a solid at room temperature with a hexagonal close-packed crystal structure and a density of around 23 g/cm³.

Rutherfordium Properties

Rutherfordium Elemental Symbol Rutherfordium is a P-Block, Group 4, Period 7 element. Rutherfordium Bohr Model The number of electrons in each of Rutherfordium's shells is 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 10, 2 and its electron configuration is [Rn] 5f¹⁴ 6d² 7s² . In its elemental form Rutherfordium's CAS number is 53850-36-5. Rutherfordium was first produced in 1964 at the Nuclear Institute at Dubna in the former Soviet Union and again in 1969 by an American group at the University of California, Berkeley. Rutherfordium is named in honor of the New Zealand physicist Ernest R. Rutherford .

General Properties

Symbol:	Rf
Atomic Number:	104
Atomic Weight:	267
Element Category:	transition metal
Group, Period, Block:	4, 7, d
Color:	unknown (presumably metallic/ silvery white/ gray)
Other Names:	Ruterfordio

Physical Properties

Melting Point:	2100°C, 3800°F, 2400 K (estimated)
Boiling Point:	5500 °C, 9900° F, 5800 K (estimated)
Density:	23 g·cm³(estimated)
Liquid Density @ Melting Point:	N/A
Density @ 20°C:	N/A
Density of Solid:	17000 (predicted) kg·m³
Specific Heat:	N/A
Superconductivity Temperature:	N/A
Triple Point:	N/A
Critical Point:	N/A
Heat of Fusion (kJ·mol^-1):	N/A
Heat of Vaporization (kJ·mol^-1):	N/A
Heat of Atomization (kJ·mol^-1):	N/A
Thermal Conductivity:	N/A
Thermal Expansion:	N/A
Electrical Resistivity:	N/A
Tensile Strength:	N/A
Molar Heat Capacity:	N/A
Young's Modulus:	N/A
Shear Modulus:	N/A
Bulk Modulus:	N/A
Poisson Ratio:	N/A
Mohs Hardness:	N/A
Vickers Hardness:	N/A
Brinell Hardness:	N/A
Speed of Sound:	N/A
Pauling Electronegativity:	N/A
Sanderson Electronegativity:	N/A
Allred Rochow Electronegativity:	N/A
Mulliken-Jaffe Electronegativity:	N/A
Allen Electronegativity:	N/A
Pauling Electropositivity:	N/A
Reflectivity (%):	N/A
Refractive Index:	N/A

Chemical Properties

Electrons:	104
Protons:	104
Neutrons:	157
Electron Configuration:	[Rn] 5f¹⁴ 6d² 7s²
Atomic Radius:	150 (estimated)
Atomic Radius, non-bonded (Å):	Unknown
Covalent Radius:	157 (estimated)
Covalent Radius (Å):	1.57
Van der Waals Radius:	N/A
Oxidation States:	4, 3 (predicted)
Phase:	Solid (predicted)
Crystal Structure:	N/A
Magnetic Ordering:	N/A
Electron Affinity (kJ·mol^-1)	Unknown
1^st Ionization Energy:	579.9 kJ·mol^-1(estimated)
2^nd Ionization Energy:	1389.4 kJ·mol^-1(estimated)
3^rd Ionization Energy:	2296.4 kJ·mol^-1(estimated)

Identifiers

CAS Number:	53850-36-5
EC Number:	N/A
MDL Number:	N/A
Beilstein Number:	N/A
SMILES Identifier:	[Rf]
InChI Identifier:	InChI=1S/Rf
InChI Key:	YGPLJIIQQIDVFJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem CID:	N/A
ChemSpider ID:	11201447

Abundance

Earth - Total:	N/A
Mercury - Total:	N/A
Venus - Total:	N/A
Earth - Seawater (Oceans), ppb by weight:	N/A
Earth - Seawater (Oceans), ppb by atoms:	N/A
Earth - Crust (Crustal Rocks), ppb by weight:	N/A
Earth - Crust (Crustal Rocks), ppb by atoms:	N/A
Sun - Total, ppb by weight:	N/A
Sun - Total, ppb by atoms:	N/A
Stream, ppb by weight:	N/A
Stream, ppb by atoms:	N/A
Meterorite (Carbonaceous), ppb by weight:	N/A
Meterorite (Carbonaceous), ppb by atoms:	N/A
Typical Human Body, ppb by weight:	N/A
Typical Human Body, ppb by atom:	N/A
Universe, ppb by weight:	N/A
Universe, ppb by atom:	N/A

History

Discovered By:	Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
Discovery Date:	1964
First Isolation:	Nils Gabriel Sefström (1830)

Rutherfordium Isotopes

Rutherfordium (Rf) is an artificial element. Like all artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes.

Nuclide	Isotopic Mass	Half-Life	Mode of Decay	Nuclear Spin	Magnetic Moment	Binding Energy (MeV)	Natural Abundance (% by atom)
²⁵³Rf	253.10044(44)#	13(5) ms	SF; a to ²⁴⁹No	(7/2)(+#)	N/A	1866.897949	-
²⁵⁴Rf	254.10005(30)#	23(3) µs	SF; a to ²⁵⁰No	0+	N/A	1875.447021	-
²⁵⁵Rf	255.10127(12)#	1.64(11) s	a to ²⁵¹No; SF	(9/2-)#	N/A	1882.284058	-
²⁵⁶Rf	256.101152(19)	6.45(14) ms	a to ²⁵²No; SF	0+	N/A	1890.645752	-
²⁵⁷Rf	257.102918(12)#	4.7(3) s	a to ²⁵³No; SF ; EC to ²⁵⁷Lr	(1/2+)	N/A	1896.953979	-
²⁵⁸Rf	258.10343(3)	12(2) ms	a to ²⁵⁴No; SF	0+	N/A	1904.562988	-
²⁵⁹Rf	259.10560(8)#	2.8(4) s	a to ²⁵⁵No; SF ; EC to ²⁵⁹Lr	7/2+#	N/A	1910.715942	-
²⁶⁰Rf	260.10644(22)#	21(1) ms	a to ²⁵⁶No; SF	0+	N/A	1918.036987	-
²⁶¹Rf	261.10877(5)	5.5(25) s	a to ²⁵⁷No; SF ; EC to ²⁶¹Lr	3/2+#	N/A	1923.948975	-
²⁶²Rf	262.10993(24)#	2.3(4) s	SF	0+	N/A	1930.93396	-
²⁶³Rf	263.1125(2)#	11(3) min	a to ²⁵⁹No; SF	3/2+#	N/A	1936.562988	-
²⁶⁴Rf	264.11388(39)#	1# h	SF	0+	N/A	1943.295044	-
²⁶⁵Rf	265.11668(39)#	1.8 min	SF	N/A	N/A	N/A	-
²⁶⁶Rf	266.11817(50)#	10# h	Unknown	0+	N/A	N/A	-
²⁶⁷Rf	267.12179(62)#	5# h [2.3(+980-17) h]	SF	N/A	N/A	N/A	-
²⁶⁸Rf	268.12397(77)#	1# h	Unknown	0+	N/A	N/A	-