rutherfordium
- noun
- /ˌrʌðərˈfoʊrdiəm/
- Specialized
:
rutherfordio
- The atomic number of rutherfordium is 104, making it one of the heaviest elements on the periodic table.
Examples
-
Ghiorso and his colleagues proposed the names rutherfordium and hahnium for elements 104 and 105, while Flerov's team put forward kurchatovium and nielsbohrium, respectively.
Academic text (1993) -
Rutherfordium is a synthetic element that was first created in 1964 and has the chemical symbol Rf.
-
The Dubna researchers, critical of the Berkeley experiment, felt that the commission's decision was hasty and made an alternative, tentative proposal to call this element rutherfordium.
Academic text (1993) -
Researchers studied rutherfordium due to its unique properties as a radioactive element in nuclear chemistry.
Synonyms
A radioactive metal with atomic number 104 that scientists make in labs and that does not occur in nature
A man-made radioactive chemical element called rutherfordium with symbol Rf
A man-made radioactive element with atomic number 104 used as a temporary name for rutherfordium
The chemical symbol for rutherfordium, a metal made in a lab that is radioactive
Surface Forms
Morphology
rutherfordium = Rutherford (semi-transparent) = rutherford + ium
The suffix '-ium' clearly marks a chemical element (productive), but the base is a proper name so the word's referent is derived from a namesake rather than the literal meaning of the base.
Etymology
The word rutherfordium was created to honor the scientist Rutherford, who studied atoms and their behavior. The ending -ium is common in names of chemical elements like helium, so rutherfordium is the 'element' named for Rutherford.
