Lawrencium

Lawrencium is a synthetic radioactive actinide with atomic number 103. Its first production was reported in 1961, and it is named after physicist Ernest Lawrence.

Actinide: An element in the f-block series from actinium through lawrencium, characterized by filling 5f orbitals. Lawrencium is the final element in this radioactive series.
Nuclear fusion: A nuclear reaction in which two atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus. Fusion reactions with heavy-ion beams produce lawrencium nuclei.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: A United States research laboratory founded in 1931 and associated with Ernest Lawrence's cyclotron work. Berkeley researchers reported lawrencium's first production in 1961.
One-atom-at-a-time chemistry: Chemical research that investigates individual atoms or extremely small numbers of short-lived atoms. Lawrencium's scarcity requires chemistry experiments at near-single-atom scale.
Atomic number: The number of protons in an atom's nucleus, which identifies the chemical element. Lawrencium's 103 protons distinguish it from every other element.
Heavy-ion accelerator: A machine that accelerates heavy atomic nuclei to high energies for nuclear-reaction experiments. Accelerated ions bombard target atoms to create lawrencium.
Ernest Lawrence: An American physicist who developed the cyclotron and received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics. The element's name honors the inventor whose accelerator enabled heavy-element research.
Relativistic quantum chemistry: The study of chemical structure and bonding while accounting for relativistic effects on electrons. Lawrencium tests predictions about how relativity alters heavy-element electron orbitals.
Periodic table: A tabular arrangement of chemical elements ordered by atomic number and recurring properties. Its placement in the table situates lawrencium among the actinides and transactinides.
Isotope: One of several forms of an element whose atoms have different numbers of neutrons. Lawrencium is known through isotopes with differing masses and half-lives.

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