Element 104 · Transition Metal
Rutherfordium
Element Facts
SYMBOL
Rf
ATOMIC NO.
104
ATOMIC WEIGHT
267
CATEGORY
Transition Metal
PERIOD
Period 7
GROUP
Group 4
Discovery & History
Rutherfordium was produced by competing teams: JINR Dubna in 1964 (claiming “kurchatovium”, after Igor Kurchatov) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1969. The naming dispute was long and acrimonious; IUPAC finally assigned the name rutherfordium in 1997, after Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand physicist who discovered the atomic nucleus and the proton, and who was a foundational figure in nuclear physics.
Where It's Used
Rutherfordium has no practical applications. It is the first transactinide element and is studied to understand how relativistic quantum effects alter the chemical behaviour of superheavy atoms. Its chemistry (how it compares to hafnium and zirconium above it in the periodic table) is an active research area.
Can You Sell It?
Why QuickStop Metals doesn’t buy Rutherfordium:
Rutherfordium is a synthetic element with a maximum half-life of approximately 13 hours (for rutherfordium-267). Only a few thousand atoms have ever been produced. No commercial production or scrap trade is possible.
Price Guide
No commercial market. Cannot be produced in any macroscopic quantity.