Seaborgium

At a glance

Symbol

Sg

Atomic number

106

Mass number of its longest-lived isotope

[269]

Group

6

Period

7

Family

transition metal

Electron configuration

[Rn] 5f¹⁴ 6d⁴ 7s² (predicted)

Electronegativity

not measured

Common ions

predicted +6, like tungsten

On the table

Period 7, group 6. The other transition metals are tinted, and every cell opens its own article.

Electrons and bonding

Only a handful of atoms have ever been made, each lasting seconds or less, so its chemistry is predicted from its place in the table rather than measured.

Properties

State at 25 °C

not known

Physical properties

none measured; no more than a few atoms have ever existed at once

Where it is found

Not found in nature. It is made a few atoms at a time in particle accelerators by fusing lighter nuclei, and each atom decays within seconds to hours.

Discovery and name

A team led by Albert Ghiorso and Kenneth Hulet at Berkeley and Livermore made it in 1974 by bombarding californium with oxygen nuclei. It was named after Glenn Seaborg, a member of the team who had helped discover plutonium and eight other elements, and the name became official in 1997 while he was still alive.