Hassium

Hassium Details

Hassium Symbol: Hs

Hassium Atomic Number: 108

Hassium Atomic Weight: (277)

What is Hassium?

Hassium is a chemical element with symbol Hs and atomic number 108. It is created in controlled laboratory environment but not found in nature. Temporary name was: Unniloctium - Uno.

Properties
Hassium has atomic number 108. This radioactive element comprises of isotopes, with its most stable one (known so far) being Isotope 269 Hs. The isotope has a half life of nine point seven seconds. However, unconfirmed research has suggested that Isotope 277 Hs may have a longer life span of about 11 seconds in metastable state.

The element's boiling and melting point are still unknown. Its density is also still unknown. At room temperature, however, Hs is known to be in a solid state. As per the element classification, Unniloctium is classified as metal. It belongs to period group 8 and bears period number 7. Hassium is a radioactive element which is artificially generated.

Isolation
An attempt to synthesise element 108 was first done by a Russian research party at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. The team were led by scientist Yuri Oganessian and Vladimir Utyonkov. However, their research data was inconclusive, and some of the facts could not be confirmed through instant repeat of experiments. Nevertheless, the science team continued their research and repeated the experiment five years later. Officially, the Russian experiment was confirmed in 1984.

Officially however, element 108 was discovered in Germany, in 1984 by a team of scientists led by Gottfried Munzenberg and Peter Armbruster at the German Institute of Heavy Ion Research, located in Darmstadt. Through bombardment, the German team created three atoms of Hassium’s main isotope.

As in many other such cases, official discovery and naming of the element stirred up a fair bit of controversy. International regulatory boards and bodies decided to credit the Germans with the discovery of Unniloctium but did admit that the Russian science team did also use element 108 in their experiments, indicating that indeed there was Unniloctium in existence at the time. However, the Russian experiments were unconfirmed, data was inconclusive and not thorough enough, and so element 108 was officially named Hassium – after the Latin name of the German province of Hesse. Although element 108 got its official name, regulatory bodies and boards suggested and recommended it be called Unniloctium as well.

Commercial Uses and Applications
Like many other similar elements, only a small amount of Unniloctium atoms have ever been synthesised, and it is believed there are only about one hundred atoms of Hs created to date. Due to this, the use and application of element 108 are limited or virtually none at this stage. This should come as no surprise as scientists are still speculating over the many of the physical and chemical properties of element 108. Researchers believe Hs will work well with other Group 8 elements. In large amounts, Hassium is expected to be a silvery metal which reacts with oxygen forming a chemical known as volatile tetroxide.

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