the.com/element rutherfordium
A metal that lives for seconds and exists mostly to prove it can be made.
means Rutherfordium (Rf, atomic number 104) is a synthetic superheavy element made by smashing lighter nuclei together, and it decays before anyone can hold it.
from First made in 1964 by Soviet scientists at Dubna and in 1969 by Americans at Berkeley, sparking a naming feud finally settled in 1997 by naming it after physicist Ernest Rutherford, father of nuclear physics.
half-lifelongest isotope lasts about 1.3 minutes
naming disputeus and ussr fought over credit for decades
never seenno one has ever seen a visible chunk of it
row sevenstarts the superheavy transactinide series
for instance
dubna 1964 synthesis — soviet team claims first creation via ion bombardment
berkeley 1969 synthesis — american team independently produces it, disputing priority
iupac 1997 ruling — official body finally assigns the name rutherfordium