ionization potential

As calculations had predicted, relativistic effects make the ionization potential of lawrencium even lower, relative to its lighter homologue lutetium, than the usual periodic trends would imply.

Still, in 2016, a team working at the GSI was able to measure the ionization potential of single atoms of nobelium, element 102, that had a half-life of 51.2 seconds10.

“The very low ionization potential is wonderfully supportive of this idea,” says Matthias Schädel, who headed the JAEA's super-heavy-element group until his retirement last week.