Copernicium (Cn)
transition-metalExpected to be a Solid
Peso atómico estándar
[285]Configuración electrónica
[Rn] 7s2 5f14 6d10 (Predicho)Punto de fusión
N/DPunto de ebullición
-165,15 °CDensidad
1,4e+4 kg/m³Estados de oxidación
+2, +4Electronegatividad (Pauling)
N/DEnergía de ionización (1.ª)
N/DAño de descubrimiento
1996Radio atómico
147 pmDetalles
Copernicium is a synthetic transactinide element in group 12, below zinc, cadmium, and mercury. It is known only from accelerator experiments that create individual atoms of short-lived isotopes. Relativistic effects are expected to make its chemistry unusually noble for a group 12 element, with weak metallic bonding and a comparatively volatile elemental state. Its confirmed properties are therefore mainly nuclear, while its chemical behavior remains partly experimental and partly theoretical.
Copernicium does not occur naturally in the Earth’s crust. Copernicium was synthesized by scientists at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany in 1996 (Fig. IUPAC.112.1). Sigurd Hofmann and an international team of scientists used the nuclear reaction 208Pb (70Zn, n) 277Cn. The observed alpha decays led to the known nuclide, 269Sg. The name, copernicium, was given to element 112 to honor astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, who is known for his heliocentric theory of how the planets orbit the Sun [663], [664]. Copernicium has no known isotopic applications aside from scientific research.
Copernicium is named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
Copernicium was first produced by Peter Armbruster, Gottfried Münzenber and their team working at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany on February 9, 1996. They bombarded atoms of lead with ions of zinc with a device known as a linear accelerator. This produced atoms of copernicium-277, an isotope with a half-life of about 0.24 milliseconds (0.00024 seconds). Copernicium's most stable isotope, copernicium-285, has a half-life of about 30 seconds. It decays into darmstadtium-281 through alpha decay.
On February 9, 1996, element 277Cn was created at the Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany by using the reaction 208Pb + 70Zn. Unlike element 110, Copernicium has properties more similar to radon than mercury, but due to its short half-life, it is difficult to study. As of 2011, Copernicum's most stable isotope has an atomic weight of 285.
No macroscopic sample of copernicium has been made, so its visible appearance is unknown. Calculations suggest a very volatile, weakly bound metal, possibly more gas-like in atom-at-a-time conditions than mercury, but this is not a directly observed bulk property.
Copernicium has no practical use outside scientific research. Its isotopes are produced one atom at a time to study superheavy nuclei, decay chains, and the influence of strong relativistic effects on chemical behavior. Experimental work with copernicium also helps test models used to predict the stability and chemistry of still heavier elements. No commercial, medical, structural, or electronic application is known or feasible with present production methods and isotope lifetimes.
Since only a few atoms of copernicium have ever been produced, it currently has no uses outside of basic scientific research.
Originally, the symbol Cp was recommended for Copernicium. That symbol was rejected because Cp had previously been used for the element lutetium which, prior to 1949, had cassiopeium as an alternative allowed name. Please see this file for additional details.
Copernicium chemistry has been investigated only in atom-at-a-time experiments and by theory. The element is expected to favor the +2 oxidation state in compounds, by analogy with group 12 elements, but strong relativistic stabilization of the 7s electrons may make neutral copernicium especially inert. Studies of adsorption behavior suggest that elemental Cn interacts weakly with gold surfaces compared with mercury. Predicted species include copernicium(II) fluoride, CnF₂, and copernicium(II) chloride, CnCl₂, but well-characterized bulk compounds do not exist.
See more information at the Copernicium compound page.
The hazards of copernicium are dominated by radioactivity rather than ordinary chemical toxicity. All known isotopes are short-lived and decay mainly by alpha emission, with some decay chains involving spontaneous fission. The element is produced in quantities far too small for conventional handling or environmental exposure. In laboratories, risk control concerns the accelerator target, recoil products, and radioactive decay products, not bulk copernicium material.
Copernicium has no confirmed natural occurrence and no environmental cycle. Any atoms formed naturally, if at all, would decay rapidly and would not accumulate. Laboratory production yields isolated atoms that decay within controlled experimental systems. Consequently, environmental behavior such as solubility, transport in soils or waters, bioaccumulation, and ecological effects has not been observed for copernicium.
Copernicium has no commodity market, industrial supply chain, or recoverable source. It is made in heavy-ion fusion experiments, commonly by bombarding heavy actinide targets with accelerated ions, followed by separation and detection of a few decay events. Production depends on specialized accelerators, rare target materials, long beam times, and highly sensitive detectors. The limiting factors are nuclear reaction cross sections and isotope half-lives, not ore availability or refining capacity. Recycling and substitution have no practical meaning for this element outside research planning.
Made by bombarding lead-208 with zinc-70.
Copernicium is not expected to be a primordial or cosmically abundant element because its known isotopes decay far too quickly to survive since nucleosynthesis. Superheavy nuclei may be formed fleetingly in extreme astrophysical neutron-rich events, but no stable or long-lived copernicium isotope is known. It has no established role in planetary chemistry or extraterrestrial materials.
- Copernicium was named for Nicolaus Copernicus.
- Its chemistry is strongly affected by relativistic stabilization of the 7s electrons.
- Only individual atoms have been studied experimentally.
- The most useful evidence for its chemistry comes from rapid gas-phase adsorption experiments.
- Copernicium sits below mercury but may be even more volatile.
- Its discovery was credited to work at GSI in Darmstadt, Germany.
Imágenes
Propiedades
Físicas
- Radio atómico (empírico)
- 147 pm Comparar Radio atómico (empírico) de todos los elementos →
- Densidad
- 1,4 × 104 kg/m³ Comparar Densidad de todos los elementos →
- Fase en CNPT
- Gas Comparar Fase en CNPT de todos los elementos →
- Punto de ebullición
- -165,15 °C Comparar Punto de ebullición de todos los elementos →
Químicas
- Afinidad electrónica
- -0,8 eV (valor negativo: se predice que el átomo no capta un electrón adicional)
- Estados de oxidación
- +2, +4 Comparar Estados de oxidación de todos los elementos →
- Electrones de valencia
- 2 Comparar Electrones de valencia de todos los elementos →
- Configuración electrónica
- [Rn] 7s2 5f14 6d10 (Predicho)
Termodinámicas
N/D
Nucleares
- Protones
- 112 Comparar Protones de todos los elementos →
- Neutrones
- 173 Comparar Neutrones de todos los elementos →
- Isótopos conocidos
- 13 Comparar Isótopos conocidos de todos los elementos →
- Isótopos estables
- 0 Comparar Isótopos estables de todos los elementos →
- Número másico (isótopo más estable)
- 285
- Isótopo más estable
- Cn-285
- Año de descubrimiento
- 1996
Abundancia
N/D
Estructura cristalina
N/D
Estructura electrónica
- Electrones por capa
- 14, 10, 2 Comparar Electrones por capa de todos los elementos →
Identificadores
- Número CAS
- 54084-26-3 Comparar Número CAS de todos los elementos →
- InChI
- InChI=1S/Cn
- Clave InChI
- NOTIIDSZELDPOP-UHFFFAOYSA-N
Configuración electrónica Predicho
——No hay datos disponibles sobre la configuración electrónica de este ion.
Modelo atómico
Los isótopos cambian el número de neutrones, la masa y la estabilidad, pero no la configuración electrónica de un átomo neutro.
N/D
Modelo atómico esquemático, no a escala.
Huella atómica
Espectro de emisión / absorción
Distribución isotópica
No hay isótopos estables.
| Número másico | Masa atómica (u) | Abundancia natural | Periodo de semidesintegración |
|---|---|---|---|
| 277 Radiactivo | 277,16364 ± 0,00015 | N/D | 790 us |
| 281 Radiactivo | 281,16975 ± 0,00042 | N/D | 180 ms |
| 284 Radiactivo | 284,17416 ± 0,00091 | N/D | 102 ms |
| 276 Radiactivo | 276,16141 ± 0,00064 | N/D | 100 us |
| 279 Radiactivo | 279,16654 ± 0,0005 | N/D | 60 us |
Fase / Estado
Motivo: 190,1 °C por encima del punto de ebullición (-165,15 °C)
Esquemático, no a escala
Puntos de transición de fase
Densidad
En condiciones estándar
Estimada mediante la ley de los gases ideales a la T actual
No hay datos disponibles sobre la estructura cristalina de la fase sólida
Isótopos (5)
| Número másico | Masa atómica (u) | Abundancia natural | Periodo de semidesintegración | Modo de desintegración | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 277 Radiactivo | 277,16364 ± 0,00015 | N/D | 790 us | α =100% | |
| 281 Radiactivo | 281,16975 ± 0,00042 | N/D | 180 ms | α ≈100%SF ? | |
| 284 Radiactivo | 284,17416 ± 0,00091 | N/D | 102 ms | SF =100% | |
| 276 Radiactivo | 276,16141 ± 0,00064 | N/D | 100 us | α ?SF ? | |
| 279 Radiactivo | 279,16654 ± 0,0005 | N/D | 60 us | α ?SF ? |
Propiedades ampliadas
Radios covalentes (ampliados)
- Radio covalente (Pyykkö)
- 122 pm
- Radio covalente (Pyykkö, enlace doble)
- 137 pm
- Radio covalente (Pyykkö, enlace triple)
- 130 pm
Escalas de numeración
- Mendeleev
- 80
Polarizabilidad y dispersión
- Polarizabilidad dipolar
- 28 a.u.
- Polarizabilidad dipolar (incert.)
- 2 a.u.
Categorías de estados de oxidación
Datos de referencia avanzados
Modos de desintegración de los isótopos (23)
| Isótopo | Modo | Intensidad |
|---|---|---|
| 276 | A | — |
| 276 | SF | — |
| 277 | A | 100% |
| 278 | A | — |
| 278 | SF | — |
| 279 | A | — |
| 279 | SF | — |
| 280 | A | — |
| 280 | SF | — |
| 281 | A | 100% |
Datos adicionales
Estimated Crustal Abundance
The estimated element abundance in the earth's crust.
Not Applicable
Referencias (1)
- [5] Copernicium https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele112.html
Estimated Oceanic Abundance
The estimated element abundance in the earth's oceans.
Not Applicable
Referencias (1)
- [5] Copernicium https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele112.html
Referencias
(8)
Data deposited in or computed by PubChem
The half-life and atomic mass data was provided by the Atomic Mass Data Center at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Element data are cited from the Atomic weights of the elements (an IUPAC Technical Report). The IUPAC periodic table of elements can be found at https://iupac.org/what-we-do/periodic-table-of-elements/. Additional information can be found within IUPAC publication doi:10.1515/pac-2015-0703 Copyright © 2020 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
The information are cited from Pure Appl. Chem. 2018; 90(12): 1833-2092, https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0703.
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) is one of 17 national laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The lab's primary mission is to conduct basic research of the atom's nucleus using the lab's unique particle accelerator, known as the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF). For more information visit https://www.jlab.org/
The periodic table at the LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory) contains basic element information together with the history, source, properties, use, handling and more. The provenance data may be found from the link under the source name.
The periodic table contains NIST's critically-evaluated data on atomic properties of the elements.
This section provides all form of data related to element Copernicium.