A Visual Encyclopedia of the Periodic Table

103

Transition Metals

Seaborgium

Sg

106

Atoms of seaborgium break apart in about

three minutes, so little is known about it.

Scientists think it may be a metal. The element

was isolated in 1974 in a machine called the

Super Heavy Ion Linear Accelerator at the

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It was

named after the US scientist Glenn T Seaborg.

This huge

machine was

used to discover

five new

elements.

Nobel Prize medal

Glenn T Seaborg and his fellow US researcher

Edwin McMillan were awarded the Nobel

Prize for Chemistry in 1951 for their work

in creating neptunium. This was the first

element to be isolated that was heavier than

uranium – the heaviest natural element.

Super Heavy Ion Linear Accelerator, Lawrence

Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA

Glenn T Seaborg

This giant tube forms part

of the Super Heavy Ion Linear

Accelerator, which is a type

of particle accelerator – a

machine in which atoms

are smashed together.

106 106 163

State: Solid

Discovery: 1974

NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY

102-103_Rutherfordium_Dubnium_Seaborgium.indd 103 02/12/16 6:53 pm