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Hassium (Hs) is a transuranium group element with atomic number 108 that was synthesised artificially. Its chemical properties are expected to be comparable to those of osmium, based on its location in the periodic table of elements. By irradiating lead-208 with iron-58 ions, the GSI research team created a hassium isotope in a fusion reaction. The isotope, which has a mass number of 265 and a half-life of barely 2 milliseconds, is very unstable.
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Key Terms: transuranium group element, fusion, isotope, periodic table, mass number, atomic number, atomic mass
Chemical Properties of Hassium
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Hassium’s chemical properties can be predicted from its location in the periodic table. Some of the chemical properties of Hassium are as follows.
- It is in the 8th group of the periodic table.
- It is in the 7th period of the periodic table.
- It is a D Block element.
- Its atomic number is 108.
- It is solid at room temperature.
- The melting point, boiling point and density of this metal is unknown.
- The relative atomic mass is 269.
- The key isotope of Hassium is 270Hs.
- The CAS number of Hassium is 54037-57-9.
Uses of Hassium
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Hassium is used for the following purposes.
- As hassium isn't found freely in nature, it doesn't have a lot of commercial applications in any field.
- In the realm of scientific study and applications, the metal is rarely used. It is said to be dangerous in some case studies because it is a radioactive element.
Properties of Hassium
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The properties of Hassium are mentioned below.
- Hassium (Hs), with an atomic number of 108, is classified as a member of group 8 and period 7.
- It is a synthetic substance that is produced in small quantities.
- The isotopes of this metal have a relatively short lifespan of around 22 seconds and have nine synthetic isotopes, one of which is hassium-270, which is one of its more stable isotopes.
- Small amounts of hassium can be produced artificially. It's made by bombarding atoms of lead isotopes, such as 208Pb, with ions of iron isotope 58Fe. Darmstadt team members used a linear accelerator for the bombarding process, resulting in 265Hs and a free neutron.
- Hassium metal was originally discovered by the team members of Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenber in Germany in the year 1984. Besides having only one single and stable natural isotope, hassium has about 12 synthetic isotopes having mass numbers between 263 and 277.
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Natural Occurrence of Hassium
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Hassium is not known to occur naturally on Earth as the half-lives of all its known isotopes are very short and therefore, no primordial hassium would have survived to the present day. However, this does not rule out the possibility of unknown, longer-lived isotopes or nuclear isomers, some of which could still exist in trace quantities if they are long-lived enough. The cold fusion of lead-208 with iron-58 by the following reaction, synthesised Hassium first.
208Bi + 58Fe → 265Hs + 1n
Hassium decays very quickly through the emission of α-particles. Therefore, scientists have been able to achieve only a limited quantity of hassium till date.
Discovery of Hassium
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Hassium has been named after the Latin name for the German state of Hesse. Before the official discovery of Hassium, many chemists from different parts of the world made numerous attempts to synthesise Hassium. The technique of cold fusion ultimately led to the discovery of hassium. In this technique, the fused nuclei did not differ by mass like the earlier techniques. German scientists like Peter Armbruster, Gottfried Munzenber and co-workers claimed to produce this element at GSI.
Things to Remember
- Hassium (Hs) is a transuranium group element with atomic number 108 that was synthesised artificially.
- The isotope, which has a mass number of 265 and a half-life of barely 2 milliseconds, is very unstable.
- The process of cold fusion, in which the fused nuclei did not differ in mass as much as in previous approaches, was the main breakthrough that led to the discovery of hassium.
- It is in the 8th group and 7th period of the periodic table.
- Hassium isn’t found freely in nature and doesn’t have many commercial applications in any field.
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Sample Questions
Ques. Does Hassium have any uses except scientific research? (3 marks)
Ans. Hassium's production is both expensive and limited, which means it has no commercial applications. It is currently only used by scientists for scientific studies. This is due to the fact that this element is radioactive, which makes it unstable. Furthermore, due to its radioactive qualities, it may be dangerous to humans.
It's important to remember that just because something isn't useful right now doesn't imply it won't be useful in the future. Aluminum had fewer uses in the past since it was uncommon and expensive. Aluminum's rising availability has resulted in a price decline in recent years, which has increased its applications.
Ques. Which are the unconfirmed isotopes of Hassium? (3 marks)
Ans. Chemists discovered the unconfirmed isotope of Hassium 277Hs on one occasion. It decays by spontaneous fission and has a half-life of 11 minutes, according to the findings. The production of 277Hs is not visible in the degradation of the ground state of 281Ds. The finding is based on a very unusual and unverified isomeric level in 281Ds.
Ques. What is hassium’s use in everyday life? (2 marks)
Ans. Hassium belongs to the transition metal family represented by the chemical symbol Hs.Since Hassium is not a naturally occurring element and very less amounts of hassium have been made till now, it has no commercial use. The current use of Hs is restricted to scientific study only. Hassium is considered dangerous in some cases.
Ques. How did hassium get the name? (2 marks)
Ans. Hassium got its name from the Latin name for the German state of Hesse.The German scientists who discovered the element named it hassium after the name of the place where it was produced for the first time.Peter Armbruster and his co-workers suggested the name Hassium. It was the IUPAC family who named element 108 as Hassium.
Ques. Is hassium a natural element or artificially synthesised? (2 marks)
Ans. Hassium is a synthetic element. All the isotopes of Hassium have extremely short lives.Hassium (Hs) is a transuranium group element that was synthesised artificially. West German researchers at the Institute for Heavy Ion Research (Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt synthesised and discovered it in 1984.
Also Read: Atomic And Molecular Masses
Ques. What type of element is hassium? (1 mark)
Ans. Hassium is a transition metal.It is an element which has the symbol Hs and atomic number 108. It is classified as a transition metal, and Hassium is a solid at room temperature.It belongs to group 8 and period 7.
Ques. Is hassium one of the heaviest elements? (2 marks)
Ans. It is possible that hassium could be more dense than the known heaviest element i.e. osmium. It is also likely that hassium reacts with oxygen in the air and forms a volatile tetraoxide. Following the periodic table, hassium should be the heaviest element in group 8 of the periodic table.
Ques. Is hassium highly reactive? (3 marks)
Ans. Hassium is an element about which very little is known. It is assumed to be a solid metal but Hassium’s study isn’t very easy since only a few atoms of it have been created. A synthetic chemical element, Hassium is expected to have properties similar to that of osmium.The heavier homologue of osmium, Hassium reacts rapidly with oxygen to generate a volatile tetroxide, according to chemistry tests.
Ques. What are some properties of hassium? (3 marks)
Ans. Hassium is a metal that belongs to the transition metal group of elements. These metals make up the periodic table's centre block and share similar features and traits, such as hardness, high melting and boiling temperatures, and excellent electrical conductivity.
Since only a few atoms of hassium were made, very little is known about the element. It is believed that Hassium is solid at room temperature but its melting point, boiling point and density is still unknown.
Ques. Is hassium extremely radioactive? (2 marks)
Ans. A highly radioactive element of which only a few atoms have been made. Hassium contains 12 isotopes, whose mass ranges from 263 to 277. They are all radioactive. Hs-269 is the most stable isotope, with a half-life of 9.7 seconds.
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