Discovery Information
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Who: A. Ghiorso, Nurmia, Harris, K.A.Y. Eskola, and P.L. Eskola
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When: 1969 |
Where: Berkeley California |
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Name Origin
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In honor of Ernest R. Rutherford, a New Zealand physicist. |
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Sources
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Bombarding plutonium with accelerated 113 to 115 MeV Neon ions. Also by bombarding a target of Cf249 with C12 nuclei of 71 MeV, and C13 nuclei of 69 MeV.
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Uses
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It has no uses. |
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Notes
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Evidence of element 104 was first detected at the Joint Nuclear Research Institute at Dubna (USSR) in 1964 by bombarding plutonium with accelerated 113 to 115 MeV neon ions. By measuring fission tracks in a special glass with a microscope, the scientists detected an isotope that decays by spontaneous fission. The isotope was thought to be Rf260 with a half life of 0.15 to 0.3 seconds. It was not until 1969, however that the group in Berkley were able to chemically
separate element 104 and positively identified two possibly three isotopes of the element.
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In August of 1997 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry announced the official naming of this element as Rutherfordium
with the atomic symbol of Rf. The IUPAC choose Rutherfordium over the Russians' choice of Kurchatovium, which was in honor
of Igor Vasilevich Kurchatov (1903-1960), former Head of Soviet Nuclear Research.
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Element 104 was previously known as Unnilquadium; from the latin from "one zero four". |