Plutonium
Plutonium was discovered in 1941 by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg and Edwin McMillan, Kennedy, and Wahl by deuteron bombardment of uranium in the 60-inch cyclotron of the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, but the discovery was kept secret. It was named after the planet Pluto, having been discovered directly after Neptunium. (Pluto is the next planet out after Neptune).
The metal has a silvery appearance and takes on a yellow tarnish when slightly oxidized. It is chemically reactive. A relatively large piece of plutonium is warm to the touch because of the energy given off in alpha decay. Larger pieces will produce enough heat to boil water. The metal readily dissolves in concentrated hydrochloric acid, hydroiodic acid, or perchloric acid. The metal exhibits six allotropic modifications having various crystalline structures. The densities of these vary from 16.00 to 19.86 g/cm3.
Related products
-
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orange color.
-
Lithium is the first of the alkalis in the periodic table. In nature it’s found like a mixture of the isotopes Li6 and Li7. It’s the lightest solid metal, it’s soft, silvery-white, with a low melting point and reactive. Many of its physical and chemical properties are more similar to those of the alkaline earth …
-
Coal is a nonrenewable fossil fuel that is combusted and used to generate electricity. Mining techniques and combustion are both dangerous to miners and hazardous to the environment. Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, …
-
• Beams Steel • Fabrics Welded Mesh • Ferrous Metals • Fittings Stainless Steel • Flooring Handrailing Systems • Grate Plates • Gratings Open Grid • Gratings Steel • Grids • Grids Flexible • Grids Wire • Handles Swimming Pool Aluminium • Metal Items Other • Pressings Metal • Pressings Stainless Steel • Rings Rolled …
-
Zircon (zirconium silicate) sands are naturally occurring, rounded sands used in foundry, ceramic, refractory, and precision investment casting applications. They are critical components in the production of glazes, ladle brick, wall tiles, coatings, shell molds and cores, and metal chills.