Element Research: Fermium

Who discovered the element?

Fermium was discovered by a group of scientists who was led by Albert Ghiorso in 1953. They discovered the element while studying the radioactive debris off of the first hydrogen bomb.

What is the element?

Fermium is a element with a boiling point of 1527 degrees calculus but the element is still not fully explored by people today because we don’t know the boiling point yet. It is a very toxic and radioactive element.

Where was fermium discovered?

Fermium was discovered in 1953 in the debris of the first thermonuclear explosion which took place on a Pacific atoll on November 1st, 1953.

How did they discover fermium?

When they were checking the debris of the thermonuclear explosion, they found other elements combined and that’s how they got fermium. There are also 21 known isotopes of fermium.

Why did they discover fermium?

The scientists weren’t looking for a specific element, they were trying to see what they could find. Fermium was something that they just stumbled upon on. Since this was the very first thermonuclear explosion, they wanted to see what they could find so lucky for them, they found a whole new element.

When did they discover fermium?

They discovered fermium in 1953 in Stockholm where a group of brave scientists decided to make a thermonuclear explosion to see what they could find.

Whoa! What are some cool facts about fermium?

1.) It’s very radioactive                                                                                                           

2.) It is created by bombarding plutonium with neutrons.

3.) There is only a little bit of fermium produced so many of its chemical properties and characteristics aren’t really know yet. They have very little information on fermium.

4.) They kept its discovery a secret until the cold war that happened in 1955.

Part 2:

1.) What questions did you need to research your topic?

All of the questions that were asked for me to do, is the ones that I researched. So all of them.

2.) What new or familiar tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?

Honestly, I didn’t use any new tools I used google because its a really easy tool to use and its the one that i’m most comfortable using. I also Used citation machine which is a tool I’ve used in the past and its a very helpful and reliable tool to use.

3.) What was the process you used to investigate the topic?

I thought in my brain which questions made the most sense. For example on the whiteboard, Mr. Horton put questions and all he put was who, what, where, how, why, when and whoa!? I had to think of questions using those words. Then using my questions, I began my research from there.

4.) How did you verify and cite the information you found?

To verify the information, I checked multiple sites to see if the information matched and if it did I knew it was accurate. Then I used citation machine to cite the websites that I used.

5.) How did the process of completing the challenge go? What could you have done better?

The process of the challenge was very confusing at the beginning but once I found out what I needed to do, the process became a lot smoother and easier as I went through. I think I could’ve put more information and I could’ve made my questions a little more different because I found that a lot of my answers to the questions I made were very similar.

 

Sources:

Gagnon, Steve. “It’s Elemental.” It’s Elemental – The Element Fermium, https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele100.html.

of Chemistry, Royal Society. “Fermium – Element Information, Properties and Uses: Periodic Table.” Royal Society of Chemistry – Advancing Excellence in the Chemical Sciences, http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/100/fermium.

Staff, Live Science. “Facts About Fermium.” LiveScience, Purch, 10 Oct. 2013, https://www.livescience.com/40348-facts-about-fermium.html.

Tech, Lenn. “Fermium.” #100 – Fermium – Fm, https://hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/PeriodicTable/fermium.htm.

Picture Sources:

https://pixabay.com/illustrations/radioactive-graphic-2056863/

https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitxer:Electron_shell_100_Fermium.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermium

By: David Gilaev

 

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “Element Research: Fermium

  1. Great information fluency post. I really like how you have found some great sub-questions to lead you to get a well-rounded perspective on your topic. You have shared minimal digital tools but cited your sources very well. Great job debriefing what you did well and what you could improve upon.

    1. Thank you Mr. Robinson, for the positive feedback! I thought that I did very well on the assignment and I am proud of my mark. I feel like I could’ve easily got full marks on this assignment because of my browser variety but now I know what browser I can use and that I don’t always have to use chrome. Thanks for the comment, I will keep these tips in mind and hopefully use them along the road. Thank you Mr. Robinson!

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