Nobelium Properties (25 Facts You Should Know)

Nobelium is a radioactive element that is one of the rarest synthetic element to be fund in nature. Let us study more facts and characteristics of nobelium below.

Nobelium has atomic number greater than 92. It is a transuranic element. As such, Nobelium is a highly unstable element with extreme short half life. The properties like boiling point, atomic radius are difficult to be studied. It is formed when two heavy nuclei undergo nuclear reaction.

Nobelium decay through various modes like alpha radioactively. It takes up fcc crystal lattice. Let us learn more facts like density, cas number, symbol of nobelium below.

Nobelium symbol

The atomic symbol or the chemical symbol of Nobelium is No named after Alfred Nobel to honor him as the benefactor of science.

nobelium logo
Atomic symbol of Nobelium with Mass number and Atomic number on extreme top left and bottom left.

Nobelium group in periodic table

The group that nobelium belongs to in a periodic table is not specified as it comes between group 2 and group 3 due to being in actinide series.

Nobelium period in periodic table

The period that nobelium belongs to in a periodic table is 7th period. It is the last period among the seven periods in a periodic table.

Nobelium block in periodic table

Nobelium is a f-block element as it belongs to actinide series with the last electron entering f subshell.

Nobelium atomic number

The atomic number of nobelium is 102. It has 102 protons in the nucleus with positive charge and 102 electrons to neutralize the element with negative charge in the orbit.

Nobelium atomic weight

The atomic weight of nobelium is 259. The total number of neutrons in No = mass number – atomic number giving 259 – 102 = 157 neutrons in the nucleus of No.

Nobelium Electronegativity according to Pauling

The electronegativity of nobelium according to Pauling scale is 1.3. It is only predicted as it is an unstable radioactive element with very short lifetime.

Nobelium atomic density

The atomic density of nobelium is 9.0 g/cm3. It is very high as it has expanded orbits with electrons in it that results in high packing density.

Nobelium melting point

The melting point of nobelium is 827 C or 1100 K. The high melting point is a consequence of high atomic density, size and packing fraction.

Nobelium boiling point

The boiling point of nobelium is not yet calculated or predicted so far due to its short lifetime owing to the radioactive nature.

Nobelium Van der waals radius

The van der waals radius of nobelium is 200 pm. This is the half of the distance between the centers of two nuclei held together by electrostatic forces.

Nobelium ionic/covalent radius

The ionic or covalent radius of nobelium is not yet calculated or extrapolated as No is a highly unstable synthetic element with short half life.

Nobelium isotopes

Isotopes are chemical forms of the same element with equal number of protons and differ by number of neutrons in the nucleus. Let us study in details below.

Nobelium has 5 isotopic forms with different half lives and decay mode. They differ only in their mass number. A list of all the isotopes of No is shown below.

IsotopesAbundanceDecay modeHalf life
253NosyntheticAlpha and beta plus decay1.6 minute
254NosyntheticAlpha and beta plus decay51 sec
255NosyntheticAlpha and beta plus decay3.1 sec
253NosyntheticAlpha and beta plus decay25 sec
259NosyntheticEpsilon and SF decay58 min
Table: Isotopes of No, its abundance, decay modes and half lives.

Nobelium electronic shell

Electronic shell is a scientific representation of the electronic state about how the electrons are filled subsequently. Let us follow up more in details below. 

The electronic shell of nobelium is 2, 18, 18, 32, 32, 8, 2. The last two electrons enter 7s shell. It follows Hund’s rule and Aufbau’s principle.

Nobelium energy of first ionization

The first ionization energy of nobelium is 639 kJ/mol. It requires this amount of energy to remove first electron from 7s shell.

Nobelium energy of second ionization

The second energy of ionization of nobelium is 1254.3 kJ/mol. This requires to take second electron from a positively charged environment with high Zeff charge.

Nobelium energy of third ionization

The third energy of ionization of nobelium is 2605 kJ/mol. This energy is highest as the third electron has to be removed from fully filled 5f shells.

Nobelium oxidation states

The oxidation states shown by nobelium is +2 and +3 and +2 is most commonly observed after removal of 5f or 7s electrons.

Nobelium electron configurations

The electronic configuration of nobelium is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 5s2 5p6 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p6 5f14 7s2. The electrons are filled in the orbitals as per Hund’s rule and Aufbau’s principle.

Nobelium CAS number

The CAS number of nobelium is 10028-14-5. This umber is unique for No to find its various facts and properties in database search.

Nobelium ChemSpider ID

The ChemSpider ID of nobelium is not yet found to be used for any database search.

Nobelium allotropic forms

Allotropes are chemical forms of the same element that exists in different chemical state but in same physical state. Let us check if nobelium has its allotropes.

The allotropic forms of nobelium is not yet found. This is due to the unstable and short lived nature of nobelium as it is a radioactive metal.

Nobelium chemical classification

The chemical classification of nobelium is given below.

  • Nobelium is a transuranic element.
  • Nobelium is a synthetic radioactive metal
  • Nobelium has penultimate shells and called as penultimate element.
  • Nobelium is short lived.

Nobelium state at room temperature

Nobelium at room temperature exists in solid state. It adopts that form due to its high atomic density, packing fraction of the crystal lattice and size.

Is nobelium paramagnetic?

Paramagnetism is a phenomenon shown by paramagnetic materials that shows magnetism in presence of an external magnetic field. Let us check below.

Nobelium is not a paramagnetic material as all the electrons are paired accordingly in its shells. As a result, it shows diamagnetic character when an external magmatic field is applied to it.

Conclusion

Nobelium is a transuranic synthetic element with 5 isotopes. It is solid metal with high melting point. It is a diamagnetic material with no allotropic forms.