plutonium
Sign in to savePlutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric. It is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous.
AI overview
Plutonium is a radioactive metal element (symbol Pu) that is silvery-gray in appearance and reacts readily with various chemicals, becoming hazardous when exposed to moist air as it expands and forms flammable powder. It is dangerous to handle because it is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, posing serious health risks to humans.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
34 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Physical properties
- Allotropes
- Nuclear fission
- Isotopes and nucleosynthesis
- Decay heat and fission properties
- Compounds and chemistry
- Electronic structure
- Alloys
- Occurrence
- History
- Discovery
- Early research
- Production during the Manhattan Project
- Trinity and Fat Man atomic bombs
- Cold War use and waste
- Medical experimentation
- Applications
- Explosives
- Mixed oxide fuel
- Power and heat source
- Precautions
- Toxicity
- Marine toxicity
- Criticality potential
- Flammability
- Transportation
- Land and sea
- Air
- Notes
- Footnotes
- Citations
- References
- External links
Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric. It is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous.
Plutonium was first synthesized and isolated in late 1940 and early 1941, by deuteron bombardment of uranium-238 in the cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. First, neptunium-238 (half-life 2.1 days) was synthesized, which then beta-decayed to form the new element with atomic number 94 and atomic weight 238 (half-life 88 years). Since uranium had been named after the planet Uranus and neptunium after the planet Neptune, element 94 was named after Pluto, which at the time was also considered a planet. Wartime secrecy prevented the University of California team from publishing its discovery until 1948.