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Columbia Encyclopedia entry: fermium
Fermiumfûr'mēəm [for Enrico Fermi], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Fm; at. no. 100; mass no. of most stable isotope 257; m.p. 1,527°C; b.p. and sp. gr. unknown; valence +2, +3. Fermium is a member of Group 3 of the periodic table. The physical properties of fermium are largely unknown; its chemical properties are believed to be similar to those of the other members of the actinide series. The eighth transuranium element to be discovered, fermium was first identified (1952) as fermium-255 (half-life about 20 hours) by Albert Ghiorso and his coworkers, who discovered it in residue from the first thermonuclear test explosion in the South Pacific. Twenty isotopes, all of which are radioactive, are known; the most stable is fermium-257, with a half-life of about 100 days. Isotopes of fermium have been produced by neutron bombardment of plutonium.
Wikipedia search results for: Fermium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fermium is a synthetic element with the symbol Fm and atomic number 100. A highly radioactive metallic transuranic element of the actinide series, fermium is made by bombarding plutonium with neutrons and is named after nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi. Fermium is the eighth transuranic element. Only small amounts of fermium have ever been produced or isolated. Thus relatively little is known about its chemical properties. Only the oxidation state of the element appears to exist in aqueous solution. 254 Fm and heavier isotopes can be synthesized by intense neutron bombardment of lighter elements. During this, successive neutron captures mixed with...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: fermium
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  • Periodic Table of the Elements: Fermium

    Periodic Table of the Elements: FermiumAtomic Number:100Atomic Symbol:FmFermiumAtomic Weight:(257)ElectronConfiguration:2 · 8 · 1832 · 308 · 2

  • Fm, chemical symbol

    Fm, symbol for the element fermium.

  • Fermi, Enrico

    Fermi, Enrico, 1901–54, American physicist, b. Italy. He studied at Pisa, Göttingen, and Leiden, and taught physics at the universities of Florence and Rome. He contributed to the early theory...

  • transuranium elements

    Transuranium elements, in chemistry, radioactive elements with atomic numbers greater than that of uranium (at. no. 92). All the transuranium elements of the actinide series were discovered as...

  • Seaborg, Glenn Theodore

    Seaborg, Glenn Theodore, 1912–99, American chemist, b. Ishpeming, Mich., grad. Univ. of California at Los Angeles, 1934, Ph.D. Univ. of California at Berkeley, 1937. In 1939, he began teaching...

  • actinide series

    Actinide series, a series of radioactive metallic elements in Group 3 of the periodic table. Members of the series are often called actinides, although actinium (at. no. 89) is not always cons...

  • synthetic elements

    Synthetic elements, in chemistry, radioactive elements that were not discovered occurring in nature but as artificially produced isotopes. They are technetium (at. no. 43), which was the first...

  • metal

    Metal, chemical element displaying certain properties by which it is normally distinguished from a nonmetal, notably its metallic luster, the capacity to lose electrons and form a positive ion...

  • Elements (table)

    ElementsElementSymbolAtomic NumberAtomic Weight1Melting Point(Degrees Celsius)Boiling Point(Degrees Celsius)1 Parentheses indicate most stable isotope.actiniumAc89227.02781050.3200....

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