Discovery date : 1996
Discovered by: Sigurd Hofmann and colleagues
Origin of the name: Copernicium is named for the Renaissance scientist Nicolaus Copernicus
Allotropes :
~>COPERNICIUM is a synthetic chemical element with symbol Cn and atomic number 112. It is an extremely radioactive element, and can only be created in a laboratory.
| FACT BOX | |||
| Group | 12 | Melting point | Unknown |
| Period | 7 | Boiling point | Unknown |
| Block | d | Density (g cm−3) | Unknown |
| Atomic number | 112 | Relative atomic mass | [285] |
| State at 20°C | Solid | Key isotopes | 285Cn |
| Electron configuration | [Rn] 5f146d107s2 | CAS number | 54084-26-3 |
| ChemSpider ID | - | ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database | |
The first atoms of element 112 were announced by Sigurd Hofmann and produced at the Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI) at Darmstadt, Germany, in 1996. Isotope-277 had been produced by bombarding lead for two weeks with zinc travelling at 30,000 km per second. Isotope-277 had a half-life of 0.24 milliseconds.
Since then, other isotopes of copernicium have been made. Isotope-285 was observed as part of the decay sequence of flerovium (element 114) produced at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) at Dubna, Russia, as was isotope-284 which was observed as part of the decay sequence of livermorium (element 116).