Periodic Table Lab
116Lv[293]

Atomic number 116 · Post-transition metal

Livermorium Lv

Livermorium is a superheavy element named after Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States. It sits in group 16 below oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium and polonium, and was first made in Dubna, Russia, in 2000 in collaboration with Livermore.

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Key properties

Atomic number116
Atomic weight[293] (No stable isotope; mass number of a representative isotope in brackets)
CategoryPost-transition metal
Group16
Period7
Blockp
State (25 °C, 1 atm)Solid (Predicted)
Melting point—
Boiling point—
Density—
Electronegativity (Pauling)—
Atomic radius (van der Waals)—
First ionization energy—
Electron affinity—
Oxidation states+4, +2, -2
Discovered2000

Electron configuration

Condensed
[Rn]7s2 7p4 5f14 6d10
Full
1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d10 5f14 6s2 6p6 6d10 7s2 7p4
Electrons per shell
2 · 8 · 18 · 32 · 32 · 18 · 6

Orbital diagram

1s2↑↓
2s2↑↓
2p6↑↓↑↓↑↓
3s2↑↓
3p6↑↓↑↓↑↓
3d10↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓
4s2↑↓
4p6↑↓↑↓↑↓
4d10↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓
4f14↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓
5s2↑↓
5p6↑↓↑↓↑↓
5d10↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓
5f14↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓
6s2↑↓
6p6↑↓↑↓↑↓
6d10↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓
7s2↑↓
7p4↑↓↑↑

Electron configurations of some superheavy elements (beyond 103) are theoretical predictions.

Position in the table

HHeLiBeBCNOFNeNaMgAlSiPSClArKCaScTiVCrMnFeCoNiCuZnGaGeAsSeBrKrRbSrYZrNbMoTcRuRhPdAgCdInSnSbTeIXeCsBaLaCePrNdPmSmEuGdTbDyHoErTmYbLuHfTaWReOsIrPtAuHgTlPbBiPoAtRnFrRaAcThPaUNpPuAmCmBkCfEsFmMdNoLrRfDbSgBhHsMtDsRgCnNhFlMcLvTsOg57–7189–103

Discovery

In 1977 Kenneth Hulet's team at Livermore searched for element 116 using curium-248 and calcium-48 but found nothing. On 19 July 2000 the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, working with Livermore scientists, bombarded a curium-248 target with calcium-48 ions and detected a single atom of element 116. It was first assigned as livermorium-292, but after the identity of its flerovium daughter was revised, it was reassigned as livermorium-293.

After further experiments and confirmation at GSI in Germany, IUPAC recognised the discovery in 2011 and approved the name livermorium on 30 May 2012, together with flerovium.

Origin of the name

The name honours Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the city of Livermore, California, where it stands; the city itself is named after the nineteenth-century rancher Robert Livermore. The symbol is Lv.

Main uses

  • Basic research: It has no uses outside science.
  • Predicted chemistry: It is expected to be more metallic than polonium, with +2 as its most stable oxidation state. Its isotopes are too short-lived for chemistry experiments so far.
  • Because livermorium alpha-decays into flerovium, its production also supplies atoms for flerovium studies.

Isotopes

There are no stable isotopes. Six isotopes are known, with mass numbers 288 to 293, and even the longest-lived, livermorium-293, has a half-life of only tens of milliseconds. All of them alpha-decay into flerovium.

In everyday life

It does not exist in nature; only a few atoms at a time are made in accelerators and they decay almost immediately, so it has no connection with daily life or health.

Good to know

  • Livermorium honours an American laboratory but was made in a Russian accelerator.
  • The mass number of the first atom was later revised from 292 to 293.
  • Elements 114 and 116 were named on the same day in 2012.

Same group (16)

OOxygenSSulfurSeSeleniumTeTelluriumPoPolonium

Data sources · Properties: PubChem Periodic Table (US NIH/NLM public data) · Atomic weights: CIAAW 2024 abridged standard atomic weights · Names: Wikidata (CC0); Korean names follow the Korean Chemical Society. Retrieved 2026-09-23.