Livermorium
Post-transition metal (predicted) · Period 7 · Group 16 · p-block
A heavy polonium analog named for a California laboratory
- Atomic mass
- 293 u
- State at 25 °C
- Solid
- Electronegativity
- —
- Melting point
- 435.9 °Cpredicted
- Boiling point
- 811.9 °Cpredicted
- Configuration
- *[Rn] 5f14 6d10 7s2 7p4
Nucleus drawn at reduced count for clarity. Drag to rotate.
Livermorium, explained
Video lesson in production
Bhavya’s explainer for this element will play here.
Overview
Livermorium is in group 16, the chalcogens, below oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium and polonium, with a predicted 7s2 7p4 configuration. Down this group the heavier elements increasingly favor lower oxidation states, because the inner s and p1/2 electrons are held more tightly. Livermorium is expected to continue the trend, with +2 as its most stable oxidation state and +4 seen only with very electronegative partners.
No chemistry has been performed on livermorium. Its isotopes are made a few at a time and the longest-lived known one, livermorium-293, has a half-life of roughly 60 milliseconds, too short for current chemical techniques. Its predicted behavior, as a metal similar to polonium but less reactive in its highest oxidation states, comes entirely from relativistic quantum-chemical calculations. Livermorium is mainly studied for what its decay chains reveal about superheavy nuclei.
Discovery
A Dubna team led by Yuri Oganessian, with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, bombarded curium-248 with calcium-48 and observed the first livermorium atom in July 2000. IUPAC credited the collaboration in 2011, and the name livermorium, honoring Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the city of Livermore, California, was approved in 2012. In 2024 Berkeley Lab made livermorium with a titanium-50 beam, a step toward making element 120.
- Where it’s found
- Livermorium does not occur in nature; it is made by bombarding curium with calcium-48, or plutonium with titanium-50, in accelerators.
- What it’s used for
- Testing new beam techniques
- Decay-chain identification
- Nuclear structure research
- Element 120 search preparation
- In living things
- Livermorium has no biological role; it is radioactive and has only ever existed as individual atoms.
- Safety
- Radioactive and made only a few atoms at a time; it decays within a fraction of a second.
How it compares
Where Livermorium sits among all 118 elements on the trends that shape the table.
- ElectronegativityNo data
Not measured for this element
- Ionization energyNo data
Not measured for this element
- Atomic radiusNo data
Not measured for this element
- Electron affinity74.9kJ/mol
#37 of 109 elements with data · predicted
- Density12.9g/cm³
#29 of 114 elements with data · predicted
- Melting point709K
#73 of 110 elements with data · predicted
- Density
- 12.9 g/cm³
- Atomic radius
- —
- Covalent radius
- —
- Molar heat
- —
- Appearance
- —
- Discovered by
- Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
Inside the atom
116 electrons arranged in 7 shells: 2 · 8 · 18 · 32 · 32 · 18 · 6.
Orbital diagram
1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2 4d10 5p6 6s2 4f14 5d10 6p6 7s2 5f14 6d10 7p4 · shorthand *[Rn] 5f14 6d10 7s2 7p4
- 1s2
- 2s2
- 2p6
- 3s2
- 3p6
- 4s2
- 3d10
- 4p6
- 5s2
- 4d10
- 5p6
- 6s2
- 4f14
- 5d10
- 6p6
- 7s2
- 5f14
- 6d10
- 7p4
Each box is an orbital holding up to two electrons of opposite spin. Highlighted subshells hold the valence electrons that decide how Livermorium bonds.
Signature reactions
How the first atoms were made, and how they fall apart.
Nuclear · Hot fusion
Dubna hot-fusion synthesis
Calcium-48 fuses with curium-248 and three neutrons evaporate. The first atom was initially assigned to livermorium-292 and later reassigned to livermorium-293.
Conditions: calcium-48 beam on curium-248, Dubna U400 cyclotron, 2000
Nuclear · Alpha decay
Alpha decay of livermorium-293
Livermorium-293 decays to flerovium-289, linking element 116 to the flerovium isotopes Dubna had already observed.
Conditions: spontaneous, half-life about 60 milliseconds
Nuclear · Hot fusion
Titanium-50 beam synthesis
Berkeley Lab fused titanium-50 with plutonium-244 and detected two livermorium-290 atoms. It showed that beams heavier than calcium-48 can make superheavy elements, a requirement for reaching element 120.
Conditions: titanium-50 beam on plutonium-244, Berkeley 88-Inch Cyclotron, 2024
Where you’ll meet it
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The laboratory that partnered with Dubna on elements 114 to 118 is honored by element 116.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Livermore, California
The California city that hosts the laboratory shares in livermorium's name.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Polonium
Polonium, directly above livermorium in group 16, is the model for its predicted chemistry.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Curium
Curium-248 targets bombarded with calcium-48 produced the first livermorium atoms.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Research
No research on Livermorium yet
When Bhavya publishes a project that studies Livermorium, it will be linked here.