Darmstadtium 110 Ds [281]   Switch element to... actinium aluminium aluminum americium antimony argon arsenic astatine barium berkelium beryllium bismuth bohrium boron bromine cadmium caesium calcium californium carbon cerium cesium chlorine chromium cobalt copper curium darmstadtium dubnium dysprosium einsteinium erbium europium fermium fluorine francium gadolinium gallium germanium gold hafnium hassium helium holmium hydrogen indium iodine iridium iron krypton lanthanum lawrencium lead lithium lutetium magnesium manganese meitnerium mendelevium mercury molybdenum neodymium neon neptunium nickel niobium nitrogen nobelium osmium oxygen palladium phosphorus platinum plutonium polonium potassium praseodymium promethium protactinium radium radon rhenium rhodium roentgenium rubidium ruthenium rutherfordium samarium scandium seaborgium selenium silicon silver sodium strontium sulfur sulphur tantalum technetium tellurium terbium thallium thorium thulium tin titanium tungsten ununbium ununhexium ununoctium ununpentium ununquadium ununtrium uranium vanadium xenon ytterbium yttrium zinc zirconium Go adjacent... Ir Pt Au Mt Ds Rg

The essentials

Description 

Here is a brief description of darmstadtium.

• Standard state: presumably a solid at 298 K
• Colour: unknown, but probably metallic and silvery white or grey in appearance
• Classification: Metallic
• Availability:

  Not commercially available.

Element 110, darmstadtium, is a synthetic element that is not present in the environment at all. Further information on element 110 is here (outside WebElements) and in a press release (outside WebElements). The interested reader should consult the on-line version of The Wonderful World of Atoms and Nuclei for a fascinating insight into research on "super-heavy" atoms.

Chemically, darmstadtium is in the same Group as nickel, palladium, and platinum (Group 10). Unlike these lighter atoms, darmstadtium decays after a small fraction of a thousandth of a second into lighter elements by emitting α-particles which are the nuclei of helium atoms.

Isolation

Only a few atoms of darmstadtium have ever been made, initially through a nuclear reaction involving fusion of an isotope of lead, Pb, with one of nickel, Ni.

²⁰⁸Pb + ⁶²Ni → ²⁶⁹Ds + ¹n

Isolation of an observable quantity has never been achieved, and may well never be. This is because atoms of the element decompose through the emission of α-particles with a half life of only about 270 microseconds. Another isotope was made by using a different isotope of nickel.

²⁰⁸Pb + ⁶⁴Ni → ²⁷¹Ds + ¹n

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