Properties of the 99th element in the periodic table reported
Part of: GS Prelims and GS- III – Sci & Tech
In news
A team of scientists at the Berkeley Lab has reported some of the properties of element 99 in the periodic table called “Einsteinium”, named after Albert Einstein.
Key takeaways
For the first time, researchers have been able to characterise some of the properties of this element.
It was discovered in 1952 in the debris of the first hydrogen bomb (the detonation of a thermonuclear device called “Ivy Mike” in the Pacific Ocean).
The most common isotope of the element, einsteinium 253 has a half-life of 20 days.
Because of its high radioactivity and short half-life of all einsteinium isotopes, even if the element was present on Earth during its formation, it has most certainly decayed.
This is the reason that it cannot be found in nature and needs to be manufactured using very precise and intense processes.