Darmstadtium

Darmstadtium is a chemical element. It has been named ununnilium (Uun) or eka-platinum but is now named darmstadtium. It has the symbol Ds. It has the atomic number 110. It is a transuranium element.
The element is named in honor of German city Darmstadt.

Darmstadtium is a radioactive element that does not exist in nature. It has to be made. The isotopes with an atomic mass from 267 to 273 have very short half-lifes. The half life of these isotopes is measured in milliseconds. Isotopes of darmstadtium with an atomic mass of 279 and 281 were synthesised after the other isotopes. Ds-279 and Ds-281 decay more slowly. The isotope with an atomic mass of 279 has a half life of 180 milliseconds and Ds-281 has a half life of 11.1 seconds.

No uses for darmstadtium are known. What darmstadtium looks like is not known because not enough has been made to see it with human eyesight.

 History 
Darmstadtium was first made on November 9, 1994. It was made at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany. Only a few atoms of it were made. It was made by bombarding a lead target with nickel. A nuclear fusion reaction happened and made the element.

This is shown by the equation below that is the reaction that happened. Pb is the symbol for lead, Ni is the symbol for nickel and n is the symbol for a neutron.

Pb + Ni→ Ds + n

The element was named for Darmstadt which was the place of its discovery. The GSI is in Wixhausen, a part of the north of the city of Darmstadt. The new name (darmstadtium) was given to the chemical element by the IUPAC in August 2003.IUPAC: Element 110 is named darmstadtium  (HTML) Accessed 21 November 2006.

 References 

 Other websites 

 WebElements.com - Darmstadtium
 IUPAC: Element 110 is named darmstadtium 
 Apsidium - darmstadtium 

Category:Transition metals
Category:Darmstadt
Category:Synthetic elements