Use
Nobelium does not exist in nature. All of its isotopes are radioactive with relatively shorthalf-lives. Some are unstable and spontaneously fission, and all of them are artificial and manmade.Small quantities of nobelium are produced in cyclotrons by bombarding curium-246with carbon-12 and neutrons to produce nobelium-254. The reaction follows: 96Cm-246 + 6C-12 → 102No-254. Carbon’s six neutron and six protons are accelerated to high-speeds ina cyclotron as they hit the curium atoms with great energy that produces an additional fourneutrons, thus producing the net gain in mass number by eight neutrons and an increase inatomic number by six protons, resulting in 102No-254.