roentgenium

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roentgenium

chemical element

Also known as: Rg, Uuu, element 111, unununium

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Key People:: Peter Armbruster

Related Topics:: chemical element; transactinoid element

See all related content

roentgenium (Rg), artificially produced transuranium element of atomic number 111. In 1994 scientists at the Institute for Heavy Ion Research (Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung [GSI]) in Darmstadt, Ger., formed atoms of element 111 when atoms of bismuth-209 were bombarded with atoms of nickel-62. The atoms of element 111 had an atomic weight of 272 and decayed after 1.5 milliseconds into atoms of meitnerium-268 by emitting an alpha particle (helium nucleus). Element 111 was named roentgenium after the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen, the discoverer of X-rays. The longest-lasting isotope, roentgenium-280, has a half-life of 3.6 seconds and decays to meitnerium-276. Roentgenium’s chemical properties may be similar to those of gold.

Element Properties
atomic number	111
atomic weight	280
electron config.	[Rn]5f¹⁴6d¹⁰7s¹

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Rick Livingston.