Where is einsteinium made

Number of Stable Isotopes : 0 View all isotope data. Electron Shell Configuration :. Einsteinium Previous Isotopes Next. Named after the scientist Albert Einstein. History and Uses : Einsteinium was discovered by a team of scientists led by Albert Ghiorso in while studying the radioactive debris produced by the detonation of the first hydrogen bomb.

A few months later the Mike test was declassified, allowing Ghiorso to report his team's earlier discovery in 6. He also had the honour of choosing the name, einsteinium Es.

Today scientists produce einsteinium by bombarding plutonium with neutrons in a nuclear reactor, then allowing the resulting isotopes to undergo beta decay. This is a slow process. Indeed, it took until nine years after its initial discovery before scientists managed to make enough einsteinium to observe its form as a silvery metal 4. As well as being scarce, einsteinium is difficult to study because it self-destructs. It has nearly 20 different isotopes, all of which are radioactive.

The most stable, Es, has a half-life of about days, but it is difficult to produce and is only available in tiny amounts. It releases gamma rays and X-rays when it decays, damaging its crystal lattice and hampering any X-ray crystallographic analysis. The intense release of energy W per gram also causes einsteinium to glow 7. Furthermore, because it decays rapidly into berkelium and californium, samples of einsteinium are nearly always contaminated.

Einsteinium is mainly used to make heavier elements, such as mendelevium — first discovered by Ghiorso's team when bombarding Es with alpha particles. In addition, scientists have used its radiation to study accelerated aging and radiation damage, and have examined its potential for medical treatments, although not commercially 7.

Outside of basic research, einsteinium has no practical use. So although its name lends it a familiarity, most of us will never come across even a single atom of einsteinium in our lifetimes. Einsteinium kicked off a trend for naming new elements after famous scientists, and it is hard to imagine a scientist who would not appreciate this honour.

But for Einstein, this particular element seems like an ironic choice; he was a pacifist, vehemently opposed to the development of the hydrogen bomb. He even recorded a statement for US television show Today with Mrs.

Roosevelt pictured in which he warned that the hydrogen bomb could annihilate life on earth. So how did he feel about a bomb-born element being named after him? We will never know. He died just a few months before Ghiorso announced einsteinium to the world. Hoffman, D. Book Google Scholar. Ghiorso, A. Einsteinium and the other heavy elements were then extracted from a tank filled with a solvent. There is very little research involving einsteinium.

According to Redfern, the main use of einsteinium is to create heavier elements, including mendelevium. Due to the high rate of decay and radioactive nature, there are currently no other uses for einsteinium. Live Science. Rachel Ross.