Actinium

Atomic Number: 89
Symbol: Ac
Atomic Mass: (227) u
Number of Neutrons: 139
Melting Point: 1050°C
Boiling Point: 3200°C
Electrons per shell: 2.8.18.32.18.9.2
Electron configuration: [Rn] 6d¹ 7s²

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Actinium is the 89th element and it is the first element in the actinide family. It is a soft, silvery-white radioactive metal. It glows blue in the dark because of it's radioactivity. Actinium doesn't have much use because it is quite rare. It's only use is for research. It can be found in uranium ores in trace amounts as a free element. One ton of uranium ore contains about a tenth of a gram of actinium. This element has a half life of around 21.773 years. Actinium was discovered in 1899 by André Debierne in Paris. He extracted it from the uranium ore. Though, it was first isolated by Friedrich Oskar Giesel in 1902. The word actinium comes from the Greek aktis or aktinos, which means beam or ray.

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