Flerovium

Flerovium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Fl and atomic number 114. It is a superheavy element and has no stable isotopes; all known isotopes are radioactive. The most stable observed isotope is flerovium-289, with a half-life on the order of a few seconds. Because of its short half-lives, only a handful of atoms have ever been produced and studied.

Flerovium was first synthesized in 1999 by a joint team from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna, Russia) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (United States). The production used a fusion reaction where calcium-48 nuclei bombarded plutonium-244 targets, yielding flerovium-289 and a neutron. The achievement was confirmed in subsequent experiments, and the element’s discovery is attributed to these collaborations. In 2012, the element was officially named flerovium in honor of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (FLNR) at JINR in Dubna; its symbol remains Fl.

In the periodic table, flerovium is placed in group 14, in period 7, as a heavier congener of the carbon group. Owing to its extreme instability, detailed empirical chemical data are scarce. Theoretical studies suggest flerovium would behave as a heavy post-transition metal with properties influenced by relativistic effects, potentially affecting its oxidation states and volatility compared with lighter group 14 elements. However, experimental investigations of its chemistry are limited to only a few atoms.

Synthesis of flerovium occurs only in specialized laboratories via fusion-evaporation reactions, and the produced atoms are detected by observing their decay chains, typically alpha decays, which then proceed to nuclei of shorter-lived elements. There are no natural sources or practical applications for flerovium due to its fleeting existence. Research continues to test and refine models of superheavy element chemistry and nuclear structure.