Mendelevium (Md)
"The Table-Setter, a hero named after the visionary who organized all the elements, created one atom at a time."
A memorable persona to anchor Md in your mind.
Synthetic
Grams per cm³
827
Celsius (°C)
N/A
Radius (pm)
Daily Life Link
Mendelevium has no everyday connection, used only in research.
Discovery & History
Year Discovered
1955
Discovered By
Albert Ghiorso and colleagues
Origin of Name
"Mendelevium is named for Dmitri Mendeleev who produced one of the first periodic tables."
Technical Properties
Atomic Mass
[258] u
Standard State
solid
Boiling Point
N/A
Electron Configuration
[Rn] 5f137s2
1st Ionization Energy
6.58 eV
Electron Affinity
N/A
Oxidation States
"Mendelevium is a synthetic, highly radioactive metal."
Did You Know?
It is named in honor of Dmitri Mendeleev, the Russian chemist who created the periodic table.
It was the first element to be synthesized one atom at a time. The initial experiment in 1955 produced only 17 atoms.
The experiment to create it was so sensitive that the scientists set up their equipment so that any new atoms would be collected on a piece of gold foil that they would then rush to a lab to analyze before they decayed.
Its chemical properties were studied using these single atoms, which was a groundbreaking achievement.