Nobelium

Element 102 · Actinide

Specimen

Atomic number: 102
Atomic mass: 259.101
State at room temperature: Solid
Melting point: 826.9 °C
Boiling point: Unknown
Density: Unknown
Discovered: 1957

Physical data from PubChem.¹

Can I eat it?

In food and water: Never made in amounts you could eat. Laboratories make nobelium a few atoms at a time. Only a few atoms have ever existed. ²

The atom

Shell	Electrons
1 (K)	2
2 (L)	8
3 (M)	18
4 (N)	32
5 (O)	32
6 (P)	8
7 (Q) outermost	2
Total	102

Configuration [Rn] 5f¹⁴ 7s²

5f ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓

7s ↑ ↓

A shell diagram: each ring is an electron shell and each dot is one electron. The nucleus holds 102 protons. The outermost shell is shown in red. Electrons do not travel on rings: they fill orbitals, regions where an electron is likely to be found. The boxes are those orbitals for the electrons outside the Rn core, with one arrow per electron.

Related elements

Sources

1

National Center for Biotechnology Information (PubChem), 2026. Periodic Table of Elements .

Atomic mass, electron configuration, melting and boiling points, density and discovery year for all 118 elements.
2
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Periodic Table of Elements, 2026. Nobelium .
- Nobelium has no uses beyond basic scientific research because only a few atoms have ever been made.

Specimen

Can I eat it?

The atom

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Sources