Meitnerium: the essentials
Element 109, meitnerium, is a synthetic element that is not present in the environment at all. There is no dispute concerning the name meitnerium for element 109.
The interested reader should consult the on-line version of The Wonderful World of Atoms and Nuclei for a fascinating insight into research on "super-heavy" atoms.
Meitnerium: historical information
In August 1982 the first atom of the element meitnerium with atomic number 109 was detected at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany. The isotope of element 109 which was discovered has an atomic mass number of 266 (that is, 266 times heavier than hydrogen). The new element was produced by fusing an iron (58Fe) and a bismuth atom (209Bi) together in a reaction that produces a neutron. This was achieved by accelerating the iron atoms to a high energy in the heavy ion accelerator UNILAC at GSI.
- Density of solid: 28200 (predicted) kg m-3
- Molar volume: |196| cm3
- Thermal conductivity: |206| W m‑1 K‑1
Heat properties Read more »
Crystal structure Read more »
The solid state structure of meitnerium is: .
Meitnerium: orbital properties Read more »
Meitnerium atoms have 109 electrons and the shell structure is 18.104.22.168.32.15.2. The ground state electronic configuration of neutral Meitnerium is [Rn].5f14.6d7.7s2 (a guess based upon that of iridium) and the term symbol of Meitnerium is 4F9/2 (a guess based upon guessed electronic structure).
- Pauling electronegativity: (no data) (Pauling units)
- First ionisation energy: (no data) kJ mol‑1
- Second ionisation energy: (no data) kJ mol‑1
Isolation: only a few atoms of element 109, meitnerium, have ever been made. The first atoms were made through a nuclear reaction involving fusion of an isotope of bismuth, 209Bi, with one of iron, 58Fe.
209Bi + 58Fe → 266Mt + 1n
Isolation of an observable quantity of meitnerium has never been achieved, and may well never be. This is because meitnerium decays very rapidly through the emission of α-particles.