| Besides probing fermium further, the team plans next to study element number 101, mendelevium, Backe says. |
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| All isotopes of fermium are radioactive, with fermium-257 having the longest half life, 20.1 hours. |
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| The transfermium elements are those elements with atomic numbers greater than 100, the atomic number for fermium. |
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| Made in the 1952 detonation of the first thermonuclear bomb, the element fermium has since sat in a corner of the periodic table where few tools of chemistry reach. |
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| The stability of the isotope fermium-257 would make it possible to work with weighable amounts of fermium. |
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| Therefore, all studies of fermium chemistry have been done on the tracer scale. |
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| While the chemical properties of this radioactive metal are largely unknown, scientists believe that fermium has no biological role. |
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| Only if mass-produced could fermium pose a threat to human health. |
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