Darmstatio

darmstatium or darmstadtium is a chemical element of the periodic table whose symbol is Ds and whose atomic number is 110 , which makes it one of the superheavy atoms. It is a synthetic element that decays quickly; its isotopes with mass numbers between 267 and 273 have half-lives on the order of microseconds. However, recently synthesized heavier isotopes of mass numbers 279 and 281 are more stable, with half-lives of 180 milliseconds and 11.1 seconds, respectively. Due to its presence in group 10, it is believed that this element may be a shiny solid metal. It receives its name in honor of the German city of Darmstadt where it was discovered.

History

It was first synthesized on Wednesday, November 9, 1994 at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany, by P. Armbruster, S. Hofmann, G. Münzenberg, and others. It has never been seen and only a few atoms of it have been created by the bombardment of isotopes of lead (²⁰⁸Pb) with accelerated nickel ions (⁶²Ni, 311 MeV), in a heavy ion accelerator. The element was named after the place where it was discovered, Darmstadt, by the IUPAC in August 2003.

Predicted properties

Aside from nuclear properties, no properties of darmstadtium or its compounds have been measured; this is due to its extremely limited and expensive production and the fact that darmstatium (and its parents) break down very quickly. The properties of darmstatium metal remain unknown and only predictions are available.

Chemicals

Darmstatium is the eighth member of the 6d series of transition metals, and should closely resemble the platinum group metals. Estimates of its ionization potentials and atomic and ionic radii are similar to those of its older counterpart. light platinum, which implies that darmstatium's basic properties resemble those of the other group 10 elements, nickel, palladium, and platinum.

Predicting the probable chemical properties of darmstatium hasn't received much attention recently. Darmstatium should be a noble metal. The predicted standard reduction potential for the pair Ds²⁺/Ds is 1.7 V. Based on the most stable oxidation states of the lightest group 10 elements, the states of The most stable oxidation of darmstatium are the states +6, +4 and +2; however, the neutral state is expected to be the most stable in aqueous solutions. By comparison, only palladium and platinum are known to exhibit the maximum oxidation state of the group, +6, while the most stable states are +4 and +2 for both nickel and palladium. It is further expected that the maximum oxidation states of elements from bohrium (element 107) to darmstatium (element 110) may be stable in the gas phase but not in aqueous solution. Darmstatium hexafluoride (DsF₆) is predicted to have very similar properties to its lighter counterpart platinum hexafluoride (PtF₆), with electronic and potential structures of ionization very similar. It is also expected to have the same octahedral molecular geometry as PtF₆. Other anticipated darmstatium compounds are darmstatium carbide (DsC) and darmstatium tetrachloride (DsCl₄), which are expected to behave like their lighter counterparts. Unlike platinum, which preferentially forms a complex cyanide in its +2 oxidation state, Pt(CN)₂, it is expects the darmstatio to preferentially stay in its neutral state and form Ds(CN)2−
2 in your place, forming a strong Ds-C bond with some multiple bond character.

Physics and Atomics

Darmstatium is expected to be a solid under normal conditions and is expected to crystallize in the body-centered cubic structure, unlike its lighter congeners which crystallize in the face-centered cubic structure, because it is expected to have densities different electron charge than theirs. It must be a very heavy metal with a density of around 26–27 g/cm³. By comparison, the densest known element whose density has been measured, osmium, has a density of only 22.61 g/cm³.

The outer electron configuration of the darmstatium is calculated to be 6d⁸ 7s², which obeys the Aufbau principle and does not follow the outer configuration of platinum, electron configuration of 5d⁹ 6s¹. This is due to the relativistic stabilization of the 7s² electron pair throughout the seventh period, so none of the elements 104 to 112 are expected to have electron configurations that violate the Aufbau principle. The atomic radius of darmstatium is expected to be around 132 pm.

Isotopes

Darmstatium has no stable or natural isotopes. Several radioactive isotopes have been synthesized in the laboratory, either by fusing two atoms together or by observing the decay of heavier elements. Nine different isotopes of darmstadtium with atomic masses 267, 269–271, 273, 277, and 279–281 have been reported, although darmstadtium-267 is unconfirmed. Three isotopes of darmstatium, darmstatium-270, darmstatium-271 and darmstatium-281, have known metastable states, although that of darmstatium-281 is unconfirmed. Most of these decay predominantly via alpha decay, but some undergo spontaneous fission.

Stability and half-lives

This table of modes of disintegration according to the model of the Atomic Energy Agency of Japan predicts several superweighted nucleides within the island of stability with total average lives over a year (inspired in a circle) and experiencing mainly alpha disintegration, reaching a maximum in ²⁹⁴Ds with an estimated average life of 300 years.

All isotopes of darmstatium are extremely unstable and radioactive; in general, heavier isotopes are more stable than lighter ones. The most stable known darmstatium isotope, ²⁸¹Ds, is also the heaviest known darmstatium isotope; it has a half-life of 12.7 seconds. The ²⁷⁹Ds isotope has a half-life of 0.18 seconds, while the unconfirmed ^281mDs has a half-life of 0.9 seconds. The remaining seven isotopes and two metastable states have half-lives between 1 microsecond and 70 milliseconds. However, some unknown darmstadtium isotopes may have longer half-lives.

Theoretical calculation in a quantum tunneling model reproduces experimental alpha-decay half-life data for known darmstatium isotopes. It also predicts that the undiscovered isotope ²⁹⁴Ds, which has a magic number of neutrons (184), it would have an alpha decay half-life on the order of 311 years; however, the exact same approach predicts an alpha half-life of ~3500 years for the non-magical isotope ²⁹³Ds.