Darmstadtium (Ds)

Darmstadtium (symbol Ds) is the chemical element with atomic number 110: a superheavy element whose properties are still unknown, radioactive, made artificially, with an atomic mass of 281 u. Discovered in 1994 (Sigurd Hofmann et al. (GSI)).

Darmstadtium is named after the German city of Darmstadt, home of GSI. It was created in 1994 and officially named in 2003. Only a few dozen atoms have been produced, and nothing is known about its chemistry, although it is assumed to resemble platinum. Its most stable known isotope, darmstadtium-281, lives about ten seconds.

Key facts

Atomic number: 110
Symbol: Ds
French name: Darmstadtium
Atomic mass: 281 u
Molar mass: [281] g/mol
Family: Unknown properties
Position: period 7, group 10, d-block
State at 0 °C: Unknown
First ionization energy: 960 kJ/mol
Electron configuration: [Rn] 5f¹⁴ 6d⁸ 7s²
Radioactive: yes
Discovery: 1994, Sigurd Hofmann et al. (GSI)

Origin of the name

From Darmstadt, a German city.

What does darmstadtium look like?

Never observed; predicted to be a very dense metal, perhaps silvery.

Where is darmstadtium found?

Absent from nature.

How is darmstadtium produced?

GSI obtained it by bombarding a lead-208 target with nickel-62 ions. The heavier, longer-lived isotopes come from the decay of copernicium and flerovium, produced in Dubna.

Top producers

Germany (GSI Darmstadt)
Russia (Dubna)

What is darmstadtium used for?

Basic research only

In everyday life

None — it exists only for moments in the lab

Role in living things

No biological role.

Hazards of darmstadtium

Radioactive, but produced atom by atom: no practical danger.

Cosmic origin

Human-made: Does not exist (or barely) in nature: synthesized in a reactor or accelerator.

History of darmstadtium

On November 9, 1994, Sigurd Hofmann's team at GSI detected an atom of darmstadtium-269. Several laboratories (Dubna, Berkeley) had tried to produce it before, without conclusive results. IUPAC approved the name in 2003.

Did you know?

The researchers reportedly joked about the name “policium,” since 110 is the police emergency number in Germany.
The name “darmstadtium” was preferred over “wixhausium,” after the Darmstadt district where GSI actually stands.
It took days of continuous bombardment to obtain a single atom.

Isotopes of darmstadtium

No stable isotopes; the longest-lived darmstadtium isotope survives about a dozen seconds.

darmstadtium-269: radioactive, half-life 230 µs. The element's first synthesized isotope, in 1994.
darmstadtium-281: radioactive, half-life 12.7 s. The longest-lived known.

Related elements

Same family (unknown properties): Meitnerium (Mt), Roentgenium (Rg), Copernicium (Cn), Nihonium (Nh), Flerovium (Fl), Moscovium (Mc), Livermorium (Lv), Tennessine (Ts), Oganesson (Og).

Same column (group 10): Nickel (Ni), Palladium (Pd), Platinum (Pt).