The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Mendelevium is a transuranium element in the actinide series. It is denoted by the atomic symbol Md. It has an atomic number of 101 and an approximate atomic weight of 258. It is a man-made radioactive element which has no stable nuclides.
The longest-lived isotope of the element, mendelevium-258, has a half life of 56 days. This period is long enough to allow the investigation of some chemical and physical properties. As expected, the element appears to be chemically similar to thulium, the element above it in the periodic table.
Mendelevium was produced in 1955 by the research team of Albert Ghiorso, Gregory Choppin (1927-), Stanley Thompson (1912-), and Glenn T. Seaborg at the University of California at Berkeley. A tiny sample of einsteinium-253 was bombarded with alpha particles in the university's 60-inch cyclotron. The product of the reaction was 17 atoms of an isotope with mass 256 and a half life of 77 minutes.
The research team recommended naming the element mendelevium in honor of Dmitry Mendeleev, the developer of the periodic table.