- kurchatovium
- kurchatovium kurchatovium n. [From Igor Kurchatov, a Russian
scientist who worked on the atomic bomb.]
A transuranic element of atomic number 104, symbol Ku; also
called {rutherfordium}, symbol Rf. It is produced in very
small quantities by nuclear reactions. In November 1993 the
nomenclature committe of the American Chemical Society
approved the name {rutherfordium} for element 104. Russsian
investigators who claim to have first discovered element 104,
isotope 260 (half-life 0.3 seconds) in 1964 at Dubna proposed
the name kurchatovium. However, investigators at Berkely in
1969 produced several isotopes of element 104 but were unable
to produce isotope 260; they reported finding isotope 257,
with a half-life of 4-5 seconds, isotope 259 with a half-life
of 3-4 seconds, and isotope 258 with a shorter half-life.
Syn: rutherfordium, Rf, Ku, unnilquadium, Unq, element 104, atomic number 104. [WordNet 1.5 +PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
