Lawrencium Facts

Lawrencium is an element and is written as Lr as of now (legal from 1997). Prior to this, just a few years ago, it was denoted by Lw. Lawrencium is one amongst the list of radioactive elements. The following are some of the very interesting facts about lawrencium.

Electron Configuration

Lawrencium electron configuration is [Rn] 5f¹⁴ 7s² 7p¹ with the atomic number 103 (2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 9, 2). The bracketed numbers show the distribution of electrons in each orbital shells of the lawrencium atom.

This chemical element is placed in the actinides section of the periodic table. The atomic mass of lawrencium is 262 with a half-life of 3.6 hours and valency +3. So this was about the atomic structure of lawrencium atom.

Physical Properties

• Though there is not much conviction in the appearance of lawrencium, it is reported to be a silvery white or grayish in color.
• Lawrencium can be turned into both, gaseous and aqueous phases but is presumably in the solid state. The melting point of lawrencium is 1900 Kelvin or 2961F.
• The boiling point of the element is not known however the absolute melting point 1.9×103 K.
• The density of lawrencium is 9.84 grams per cubic cm.
• The classification of this metal, as mentioned in the above paragraph, is done in the actinides section of the periodic table, which makes it a transition metal. The lawrencium electron configuration also proves the same.

Lawrencium has many isotopes, the heaviest one being what we saw, ²⁶²Lr. The atom of this isotope is reported to have the longest half-life of 216 minutes. Here's a list of the isotopes.

Lawrencium Isotopes
Lawrencium-251	Lawrencium-259
Lawrencium-252	Lawrencium-260
Lawrencium-253	Lawrencium-261
Lawrencium-254	Lawrencium-262
Lawrencium-255	Lawrencium-263
Lawrencium-256	Lawrencium-264
Lawrencium-257	Lawrencium-265
Lawrencium-258	Lawrencium-266

Out of these, only ten of the isotopes are reported to be radioactive. There is also a mixed opinion as to how many isotopes in all are there. Some report to be twelve while others settle with sixteen.

The facts presented here deal with where it is placed in the periodic table, how was it discovered, who discovered lawrencium, what properties does it possess, etc.

• Placement: Lawrencium is the last element of the periodic table, i.e. the last of all the elements.
• Discovery: The atom of lawrencium was accidentally produced by targeting three milligram of three isotopes of the element californium with boron-10 and boron-11 nuclei.
• Inventors: The element is named behind the nuclear physicist, Ernest O. Lawrence. Lawrencium was synthesized by some nuclear physicists, namely, Albert Ghiorso, Almon Larsh, Robert M. Latimer, Torbjorn Sikkeland, along with others in California. These physicists were in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California in 1961.
• Radioactive: All the elements in the periodic table that have atomic number greater than 92 (i.e. the atomic number of Uranium), show radioactivity and lawrencium is no exception.
• Problems: Production of considerable amount of lawrencium could lead to radiation issues. By production I mean, synthesis of the same in the laboratories.
• Availability: Among the very interesting facts about lawrencium is that the element does not exist in the nature! It can only be made artificially.
• Uses: Lawrencium uses are limited as the element is non-existent in nature. Its primary uses are for research work alone.

So these were some of the lawrencium facts, some of which are not very common, and hope it arouses a little interest in chemistry, if not go further into details of it.