Fermium

Fermium

Symbol	Fm
Atomic Number	41
Atomic Mass	(257) g.mol -¹
Discovered by	Albert Ghiorso and colleagues in 1953

Chemical Properties of Fermium

What is Fermium?

• Fermium is a transuranic radioactive element and a member of the actinide series in the periodic table of elements.
• Fermium was first discovered by Albert Ghiorso and others during the work involving at New Mexico and the University of California at Berkeley in the radioactive fallout from a nuclear test in the Pacific Ocean.
• So far, not enough fermium has been made to analyze its chemical properties, but it is predicted that it would be a metal susceptible to attack by acids, steam, and air.
• Fermium is produced in small quantities and does not have an extended half-life.

Uses of Fermium

• As fermium is found in very small quantities and all of its isotopes have very short lives, there is no commercial use for the element.  
• The scientists make use of this element in their research in expanding their knowledge on the rest of the periodic table.

Properties of Fermium

• The most stable isotope of Fermium, that is fermium-257 has a half-life of around 100.5 days. The isotope can be decayed into californium-253 with alpha decay or through spontaneous fission.

Certain Facts About Fermium

• It no longer exists naturally on earth but earlier it was known to have been produced in natural reactor deposits.
• As it does not occur naturally, it has no known health hazards facts and effects.
• Today fermium can be obtained in microgram quantities by bombarding neutrons of plutonium inside a nuclear reactor. The 257Fm and other higher isotopes can be produced with this process.