Livermorium (Lv)

Livermorium (symbol Lv) is the chemical element with atomic number 116: a superheavy element whose properties are still unknown, radioactive, made artificially, with an atomic mass of 293 u. Discovered in 2000 (Dubna and Livermore laboratories).

Livermorium is named after Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (and the city of Livermore, California), Dubna's partner in its discovery in 2000. Only a few dozen atoms have been produced. Its most stable known isotope, livermorium-293, has a half-life of a few tens of milliseconds.

Key facts

Atomic number: 116
Symbol: Lv
French name: Livermorium
Atomic mass: 293 u
Molar mass: [293] g/mol
Family: Unknown properties
Position: period 7, group 16, p-block
State at 0 °C: Unknown
First ionization energy: 724 kJ/mol
Electron configuration: [Rn] 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7s² 7p⁴
Radioactive: yes
Discovery: 2000, Dubna and Livermore laboratories

Origin of the name

From Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

What does livermorium look like?

Never observed; predicted to be a heavy metal, a distant cousin of polonium.

Where is livermorium found?

Absent from nature.

How is livermorium produced?

Dubna bombards a curium-248 target with calcium-48 ions. In 2024, a Berkeley team produced two atoms of livermorium with a titanium-50 beam on plutonium-244 — a crucial test in the quest to one day create element 120.

Top producers

Russia (Dubna)
United States (Livermore, Berkeley)

What is livermorium used for?

Basic research only
Testbed for new synthesis methods aimed at elements 119 and 120

In everyday life

None — it exists only for moments in the lab

Role in living things

No biological role.

Hazards of livermorium

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 livermorium

In 1999, a Berkeley team announced elements 118 and 116, before retracting in 2001: the data had been falsified by one of the researchers. The real discovery goes to Dubna and Livermore, which observed livermorium in July 2000. The name was adopted in 2012.

Did you know?

The 1999 affair led to the firing of physicist Victor Ninov and permanently tightened verification procedures in the field.
The titanium-50 beam used in 2024 opens the way to elements beyond 118, out of reach with calcium-48 for lack of heavy enough targets.
It was named on the same day as flerovium, symbolically sealing the Russian–American collaboration.

Isotopes of livermorium

No stable isotopes; livermorium isotopes decay within a few milliseconds.

livermorium-290: radioactive, half-life 9 ms. Observed in the decay of oganesson-294.
livermorium-293: radioactive, half-life 70 ms. The longest-lived known.

Related elements

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

Same column (group 16): Oxygen (O), Sulfur (S), Selenium (Se), Tellurium (Te), Polonium (Po).