Livermorium

Livermorium
Symbol	Lv
Number	116
Group, Period	16,7
Mass number	not applicable
Category	Post-Transition Metal Chalcogen (Group 16 Elements)
Electronic properties
Electrons per shell	2,8,18,32,32,18,6 (Predicted)
Discovery information
Discoverer	Yuri Oganessian
Date discovered	6 December 2000
Location discovered	Dubna, Russia

Livermorium (Lv) is the name of element 116. Wikipedia has an article which provides a lot of information about the element.  This article will focus on things Wikipedia does not stress: heavy isotopes and formation.

No isotopes of Lv have predicted half-lives greater than a few seconds, and no isotopes are predicted to be daughters of long-lived nuclides.

A large number of Lv isotopes can form during a neutron star merger or comparable event, but all of these are heavier than ³²⁰Lv. Supernovae are unlikely to be able to form this element. No isotope which can be synthesized by any technology currently imaginable can form.

Any Lv which does form will disappear within 1000 sec of the event which led to its formation. This means that the element will never be in an environment cool enough for it to interact chemically.

Nuclear properties

Information sources

This article uses two main resources chosen because of their independence from one another. A third source provides quantitative data over a limited range.

At least one document maps half-life and decay mode for elements below Z = 175 from the neutron dripline down to isotopes which are too neutron-poor to survive any appreciable length of time. Maps on pp 15 & 18 address the entire (Z,N) region covered, but report only the dominant decay mode and report half-lives only to within a band three orders of magnitude wide (0.001 - 1 sec, for example). More detailed estimates of these properties can be extracted from maps on pp 11 & 12, but only for a limited range of Z and N. Half-life data are reported by colors, which makes numerical estimates laborious to produce. This document is connected to Japan's KTUY model.

An independent map of half-lives and decay modes exists. This one is limited to A = 339, as well as to Z = 132. It does not show short-lived isotopes well, and gives half-lives only within rather broad and awkward bands. It does show multiple decay modes for single nuclides. It originates from models used by the Russian agency JINR, so is completely independent of .

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) maintains an on-line chart of nuclides which includes decay properties of many predicted nuclides - unlike charts published by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) or the (U.S.) National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC). This chart gives separate numerical values for partial half-lives against fission, beta emission (both b^- and b⁺), and alpha emission. These appear to be systematically too long, but are probably reliable to within an order of magnitude.

Predicted properties

Even-N isotopes from the neutron dripline down to ³⁶⁷Lv are predicted to have half-lives in the 0.001 - 1 sec range. [Half-lives aren't reported directly, but the properties of beta decay indicate that half-lives close to 0.001 sec are likely]. In some cases, fission is predicted to be the dominant decay mode, but both fission and beta emission are likely to be significant modes for all isotopes. Odd-N drops in this band decay by neutron emission.

Isotopes in the band ³⁶⁶Lv to ³³³Lv are predicted to decay by beta emission. All are predicted to have half-lives in the 0.001 - 1 sec range.

Isotopes in the band ³³²Lv to ³²⁷Lv are also predicted to have half-lives in the 0.001 - 1 sec range, but are predicted to decay predominantly by fission.

Isotopes in the band ³²⁶Lv to ³²³Lv are predicted to decay by fission. ³²⁵Lv is predicted to have a half-life in the 0.001 - 1 sec range. All the others are predicted to have half-lives below 0.001 sec.

predicts a gap from ³²²Lv to ³⁰⁸Lv, Except for ³²¹Lv and ³⁰⁹Lv, which are predicted to have half-lives in the 10^-9 - 10^-6 sec range, all have half-lives under 10^-9 sec, and may not even survive the 10^-14 sec needed to qualify as nuclides. predicts all will have half-lives under 10^-6, which is as short a time as that document reports. Fission is the predicted decay mode in both cases.

reports that ³⁰⁷Lv and ³⁰⁶Lv should decay by fission, with ³⁰⁷Lv having a half-life in the 10^-6 - 0.001 sec range and ³⁰⁶Lv having one in the 0,001 - 1 sec range. agrees about fission, but predicts both with have half-lives under 10^-6 sec.

predicts that ³⁰⁵Lv will decay by alpha emission with a half-life in the range 0.001 - 1 sec. indicates fission and a half-life < 10^-6 sec.

predicts alpha decay, but half-lives in the 10^-6 - 0.001 sec range for ³⁰⁴Lv to ³⁰²Lv. predicts that ³⁰⁴Lv will decay by fission and shows ³⁰³Lv having a half-life in the 0.001 - sec range. predicts alpha decay and that half-lives decline from roughly 0.010 sec to 0.0002 sec as A decreases. This band has neutron counts from N = 188 to N = 186, which is just above the closed neutron shell at N = 184. 's pattern is what would be expected in this situation.

Below ³⁰²Lv, there have been many studies of decay properties. There does seem to be consensus that fission will not be a significant decay mode, that half-lives will peak just below ³⁰⁰Lv, and that even the most stable isotopes will have relatively short half lives. predicts that ²⁹⁹Lv should have a half-life on the order of 3 sec, and that ³⁰⁰Lv, ²⁹⁷Lv, ²⁹⁵Lv, and ²⁹⁴Lv, will all have half-lives in the 1 - 2 sec range. Further comparison of predicted decay properties or evaluation of likely actual properties is out of scope for this article.

Observed half-lives in the band ²⁹³Lv to ²⁹⁰Lv are an order of magnitude shorter than predicted half-lives of adjacent isotopes, both above and below the band. There is an unconfirmed claim that ²⁹⁴Lv has been observed, and that its half-life is around 0.05 sec, 1/20th of that predicted by .

The lightest isotope reported by any of , or is ²⁷⁸Lv. There may be a few lighter nuclides with half-lives in the 10^-14 - 10^-9 sec range, but half-lives will quickly decline below the minimum needed for a nuclear drop to qualify as a nuclide.

Occurence

Formation

Isotopes heavier than roughly ³²⁵Lv form in relative abundance during a neutron star merger. Production is limited to heavy isotopes because isotopes in the band ³²⁵Lv - ³⁰¹Lv are blocked from forming by fission attrition in beta-decay chains, and all lighter isotopes are blocked from forming by beta-stable nuclides of lower Z (plus fission attrition in the ³⁰⁰Lv - ²⁹⁴Lv band). In addition to heavy isotopes, supernovae may produce some isotopes with A < 301 as well, although quantities produced are likely to be small and may be insignificant.

Persistence

All Lv isotopes which can form have short half-lives and are the result of beta decay of short-lived nuclides. The element is expected to disappear completely less than 1000 sec after a neutron star merger, or similar event, which led to its formation.

Atomic properties

Livermorium is predicted to have an electron configuration of [Rn] 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7s² 7p_1/2² 7p_3/2² as a neutral atom. Its ionization energies have been predicted up to Lv⁺⁵: IE(1)=6.905 eV, IE(2)=13.83 eV, IE(3)=29.64 eV, IE(4)=39.62 eV, and IE(5)=63.23 eV. Ionization energies should increase smoothly for several steps as charge goes up from this point because 7s electrons and 6d_5/2 electrons have similar energy eigenvalues.

Chemical properties

Livermorium has no chemical properties. Except in the extraordinarily rare case of synthesis in a lab, it never gets cool enough to have the kind of 2-charge-center / bound-electrons which are chemistry. Its minimum temperature will be on the order of a million K.

References

9-Period Periodic Table of Elements
1	1 H																																																																	2 He
2	3 Li	4 Be																																																																	5 B	6 C	7 N	8 O	9 F	10 Ne
3	11 Na	12 Mg																																																																	13 Al	14 Si	15 P	16 S	17 Cl	18 Ar
4	19 K	20 Ca																																																																	21 Sc	22 Ti	23 V	24 Cr	25 Mn	26 Fe	27 Co	28 Ni	29 Cu	30 Zn	31 Ga	32 Ge	33 As	34 Se	35 Br	36 Kr
5	37 Rb	38 Sr																																																																	39 Y	40 Zr	41 Nb	42 Mo	43 Tc	44 Ru	45 Rh	46 Pd	47 Ag	48 Cd	49 In	50 Sn	51 Sb	52 Te	53 I	54 Xe
6	55 Cs	56 Ba																																																					57 La	58 Ce	59 Pr	60 Nd	61 Pm	62 Sm	63 Eu	64 Gd	65 Tb	66 Dy	67 Ho	68 Er	69 Tm	70 Yb	71 Lu	72 Hf	73 Ta	74 W	75 Re	76 Os	77 Ir	78 Pt	79 Au	80 Hg	81 Tl	82 Pb	83 Bi	84 Po	85 At	86 Rn
7	87 Fr	88 Ra																																																					89 Ac	90 Th	91 Pa	92 U	93 Np	94 Pu	95 Am	96 Cm	97 Bk	98 Cf	99 Es	100 Fm	101 Md	102 No	103 Lr	104 Rf	105 Db	106 Sg	107 Bh	108 Hs	109 Mt	110 Ds	111 Rg	112 Cn	113 Nh	114 Fl	115 Mc	116 Lv	117 Ts	118 Og
8	119 Uue	120 Ubn																															121 Ubu	122 Ubb	123 Ubt	124 Ubq	125 Ubp	126 Ubh	127 Ubs	128 Ubo	129 Ube	130 Utn	131 Utu	132 Utb	133 Utt	134 Utq	135 Utp	136 Uth	137 Uts	138 Uto	139 Ute	140 Uqn	141 Uqu	142 Uqb	143 Uqt	144 Uqq	145 Uqp	146 Uqh	147 Uqs	148 Uqo	149 Uqe	150 Upn	151 Upu	152 Upb	153 Upt	154 Upq	155 Upp	156 Uph	157 Ups	158 Upo	159 Upe	160 Uhn	161 Uhu	162 Uhb	163 Uht	164 Uhq	165 Uhp	166 Uhh	167 Uhs	168 Uho	169 Uhe	170 Usn	171 Usu	172 Usb
9	173 Ust	174 Usq
Alkali metal Alkaline earth metal Lanthanide Actinide Superactinide Transition metal Post-transition metal Metalloid Other nonmetal Halogen Noble gas predicted predicted predicted predicted predicted predicted predicted predicted predicted

(10-02-20)