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Plutonium - Papers

Plutonium

is a radioactive metallic element. Although it is occasionally
found in nature, mostly all of our is produced artificially in a lab.
The official chemical symbol for is Pu, coming from its first and
third letters. Its atomic number is ninety-four. is able to maintain
its solid state until very high temperatures, melting at six hundred and forty
degrees Celsius, and boiling at three thousand four hundred and sixty degrees.
The density of Plutonium, at twenty degrees centigrade, is 19.86 grams per cubic
centimeter.
Plutonium was discovered, in the laboratory, by Glenn Theodore Seaborg,
and his associate Edward M. McMillan. The two shared the Nobel prize in 1951
for their discoveries of ...

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into plutonium.
Shortly after, Seaborg was able to isolate plutonium 239, an isotope used in
atomic bombs.
Plutonium is a highly dangerous and poisonous element because it rapidly
gives off radiation in the form of alpha particles. Alpha particles, which are
identical to the nucleus of a helium atom, consist of two protons and two
neutrons tightly bound together. Although the particles can only travel about
five centimeters in the air, they can cause great damage when the enter the body,
causing cancer and other serious health problems. Beyond the danger of their
radiation, Plutonium will spontaneously explode when a certain amount, called
critical mass, is kept together. Soon after the discovery of Plutonium, it was
discovered that at least two oxidation states existed. It is now known to exist
in oxidation states of +3, +4, +5, and +6.
Currently, there are fifteen known isotopes of Plutonium, with mass
numbers ranging between 232 and 246. The most important isotope is ...

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Plutonium. (2005, August 23). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Plutonium/32121

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 8/23/2005 03:00:01 PM
Category: Science & Nature
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 835
Pages: 4

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