Is the periodic table rewritten?; A Discrepancy on the periodic table which is found at the last element of actinide series

Sato, Tetsuya   

In order to clarify the properties of heavy actinide elements, we focused on the first ionization potential (IP), which is a physical quantity that directly reflects the binding energy of the outermost electron. To obtain information about the electron configuration of heavy actinide elements including element 103, lowrencium (Lr), the IP of fermium (Fm), mendelevium (Md), nobelium (No) and Lr were determined experimentally by using a novel method we have developed based on the surface ionization. From the results, it was clarified that No would have the quasi-closed shell structure [Rn]7s5f and Lr would have one loosely-bound electron in the outermost electron orbital. We showed for the first time that the actinide series ends at Lr experimentally.