Curium
Atomic Number: 96
Curium is the 96th element in the periodic table and it is one of the actinides. This element is dense with a silvery-white appearance. Curium has been used to provide power to electrical equipment used on space missions. Curium is even used on the Sojourner rover on Mars (if you want more details search it up). Curium is one (or even the most) radioactive element in the periodic table. It is so intensely radioactive that it boils water, making its chemistry difficult to study. Due to this, it even glows in the dark. This element will react with air, water and most acids. Curium is not found naturally and is artificially made by the neutron bombardment of plutonium in a nuclear reactor. Curium was first made by the team led by Glenn Seaborg, Ralph James, and Albert Ghiorso in 1944. They bombarded a piece of the newly discovered element plutonium-239 with alpha-particles. Curium is named in honour of Pierre and Marie Curie. The picture on the right is one of the only pictures showing how curium looks like. |
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