Standard atomic weight real life substances—for example, in pharmaceuticals and scientific research. Atomic weights are specific to single sources and samples of an element, such as the atomic weight of carbon in a particular bone from a particular archeological site. Standard atomic weight generalizes such values to the "range of atomic weights" which a chemist might expect to derive from many random samples from Earth. This range is the cause of the "interval notation" in some standard atomic weight values. Out of the 118 known chemical elements, 84 are stable and have this Earth-environment based value. Typically, such a value is, for example
Isotopes of rutherfordium Isotopes of rutherfordium Rutherfordium (Rf) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all synthetic elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was either Rf in 1966 or Rf in 1969. There are 16 known radioisotopes from Rf to Rf (3 of which, Rf, Rf, and Rf are unconfirmed) and 4 isomers. The longest-lived isotope is Rf with an estimated half-life of 5 hours. The longest directly measured half-life is Rf at 11 minutes, and the longest-lived isomer is Rf with a half-life of 81 seconds. Super-heavy elements such