Sg Seaborgium
Proposed Name
Atomic Number: 106
Atomic Symbol: Sg
Atomic Weight: 263
Electron Configuration:[Rn]7s^2 5f^14 6d^4History
In June 1974, members of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, U.S.S.R., reported
their discovery of Element 106, which they reported to have synthesized. Glenn Seaborg was
part of this group, and the element was named in his honor. Seaborgium is often still referred to
as Element 106 because the international committee in charge of names changed the rules. They
decided retroactively it couldn't be named after a living person.
In September 1974, workers of the Lawrence Berkeley and Livermore Laboratories also claimed
creation Element 106 "without any scientific doubt." The LBL and LLL Group used the Super
HILAC to accelerate 18O ions onto a 249Cf target.
Element 106 was created by the reaction 249Cf(18O, 4N)263X, which decayed by alpha emission
to rutherfordium, and then by alpha emission to nobelium, which in turn further decayed by
alpha between daughter and granddaughter. The element so identified had alpha energies of
9.06 and 9.25 MeV with a half-life of 0.9 +/- 0.2 s.
At Dubna, 280-MeV ions of 54Cr from the 310-cm cyclotron were used to strike targets of 206Pb,
207Pb, and 208Pb, in separate runs. Foils exposed to a rotating target disc were used to detect
spontaneous fission activities. The foils were etched and examined microscopically to detect the
number of fission tracks and the half-life of the fission activity.
Other experiments were made to aid in confirmation of the discovery. Neither the Dubna team
nor the Berkeley-Livermore Group has proposed a name as of yet for element 106
(unnilhexium).
Sources: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics and the American Chemical Society.
Last Updated: 12/19/97, CST Information Services Team
Seaborgiumhttp://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/106.html [5/10/2001 3:08:56 PM]