The number of protons and electrons in an atom determines its overall charge. The negative charges of the electrons are spread out, while the positive charges are concentrated in a core or nucleus. A neutron is a neutral particle that orbits with the electrons. When a neutron loses an electron, it becomes a proton. When an atom gains a proton, it is considered to be positively charged and is said to become ionized.

Ionization energy, also called ionization potential, is the amount of energy required to remove the first electron from a neutral atom or molecule. The higher the ionization energy, the more easily a neutral atom will lose electrons and become an ion.

Electron affinity is the tendency of an atom to attract extra electrons. It varies greatly across the periodic table, but the general trend is that nonmetals have greater electron affinity than metals. Electron affinity is also dependent on the atomic number.

Livermorium is a synthetic post-transition metal with the chemical symbol Lv and atomic number 116. It was created in 2000 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia in a collaboration between science teams led by Yuri Oganessian of JINR and Ken Moody of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) [1]. It is not found naturally and is produced in small quantities only in laboratories. It is a radioactive element, and its ionization energies are extremely high. The heaviest member of group 16, it is very similar in chemical properties to its neighbors polonium and ruthenium.