Page 106 - The Periodic Table Book

107
Bh Bohrium

State: Solid
107 107 163 Discovery: 1981

Transition Metals Bohrium is an artificial

element named after the
Danish scientist Niels Bohr.
This was to honour his model
of the structure of atoms’
electron shells. Bohrium
was first produced by firing
chromium atoms at bismuth
atoms in a particle accelerator
(a machine in which atoms are
smashed together). Atoms
of this metal are unstable:
half of any sample of bohrium
atoms breaks apart in 61
seconds. As a result, it is
not very well understood.
Niels Bohr

108
Hs Hassium

State: Solid
108 108 169 Discovery: 1984

Hassium was produced
inside this chamber.
Scientists think hassium
is a metal, but they have
not been able to produce
enough of its atoms to study
it in any detail. Hassium is
very radioactive, and most of
its atoms break apart within a
few seconds. This element is
named after the German state
of Hesse, the location of
the Centre for Heavy Ion
Research, where hassium
was first created artificially
A chamber at Centre by a team led by the German
for Heavy Ion Research,
Darmstadt, Germany physicist Peter Armbruster.
104 Peter Armbruster

104-105_Bohrium_Hassium_Meitnerium.indd 104 12/12/16 5:39 pm