Ununoctium (Uuo)-Discovery, Occurrence, Production, Properties and Applications of Ununoctium

Topics Covered

Chemical Formula
Discovery
Basic Information
Occurrence
Isotopes
Production
Health Aspects
Key Properties
Applications
References

Chemical Formula

Uuo

Discovery

Ununoctium was discovered in 2002 following a number of experiments conducted at Dubna in Russia at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions. One atom was produced in 2002 and two more in 2005.

A beam of ⁴⁸₂₀Ca at ²⁴⁹₉₈Cf was fired in the 2002 experiment that went on for a period of four months. In this experiment a beam of 2.5 x 10¹⁹ calcium ions was used in the synthesis of Ununoctium. Three neutrons were released during this experimental process.

          ²⁴⁹₉₈Cf + ⁴⁸₂₀Ca → ²⁹⁴₁₁₈Uuo + 3¹n

Basic Information

Occurrence

Ununoctium is not found in nature due to its radioactivity.

Isotopes

Ununoctium is likely to have only one isotope known as Ununoctium-294. Ununoctium-294 is Ununoctium’s most stable isotope and has a half-life of about 0.89 milliseconds. Ununoctium-294 decays into livermorium-290 through alpha decay.

Production

Ununoctium is produced by bombarding atoms of californium-249 with ions of calcium-48 for 11 hours. This production process accumulates a total dose of 2.5 x 10¹⁹ calcium ions.

Key Properties

The key properties of ununoctium include:

• It is a synthetic radioactive metal and is available only in small amounts.

Applications

Ununoctiumc is only used in basic scientific research due to its limited production and availability.

Reference

http://www.webelements.com/ununoctium/

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele118.html

http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/uuo.htm

http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/118/ununoctium

http://www.chemicool.com/elements/ununoctium.html