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Atomic Number : 96Atomic Symbol : CmAtomic Weight : 247Melting point in time : 2,453 F ( 1,345 C)Boiling Point : 5,612 F ( 3,100 C )
Holy Writ ancestry : Curium is named after druggist and physicistMarie Curieand her husband , Pierre Curie , who were pioneer in sympathise radiation .
Curium
find : Curium was identify by Glenn Seaborg , Ralph James and Albert Ghiorso in 1944 at the wartime metallurgic lab at the University of Chicago . Its production was the result of He - ion bombing of Plutonium-239 in the Berkeley , Calif. , 60 - inch cyclotron . Although curium followsamericiumin the periodical organization , it was actually the third synthetically bring forth transuranium element to be expose .
Properties of atomic number 96
Curium is highly radioactive . As a metal , it is shiny and silvery . It is malleable , chemically reactive and positively charged . Its surface rapidly oxidize in air , profit a slight celluloid . In dilute solutions , it dissolves apace to form Cm ( III ) solutions . Curium metal be in two crystal structures : a double - hexagonal last - packed and a gamey temperature , grimace - focus cubic stopping point - packed . [ SeePeriodic mesa of the element ]
Divalent compound of curium have never been mention to form in majority . Most compounds of trivalent curium are stable and faintly yellow or sensationalistic - Green River . Because curium isotopes are available in large quantities , many curium compound have been prepare and qualify . The majority of compounds are in the trivalent body politic .
If absorbed in to the body , curium pile up in the bones . Its radiation destroys red blood cell shaping . therefore , Cm is considered very toxic .
source of atomic number 96
atomic number 96 is made synthetically.242Cm and244Cm are available in multigram quantities , but248Cm has been produced only in milligram sum .
Minute amounts of Cm plausibly exist in natural deposit ofuranium , as a result of a sequence of neutron captures and genus Beta decay sustained by the very low flux of neutron course present in U ores . There is no grounds , however , to evoke that lifelike curium exists today . It may , however , have existed long ago . The most static isotope of curium,247Cm , has a half - life of 16 million days . Compared to the Earth ’s age , this is relatively unretentive . therefore , if any primal curium did exist , it would have go away zillion of year ago .
Uses of curium
presently , atomic number 96 is used primarily for basic scientific research . Some of its isotopes , however , have proven uses.242Cm generates about three W of thermal vigour per gram , more than plutonium create . Both242Cm and244Cm have been used as power source for space and medical practices .
Isotopes of atomic number 96
Curium has 14 screw isotopes . They range in mass from 237 to 251 . Though none are stable,247Cm has a half - spirit of about 15,600,000 year . It decays into243Pu through alpha decline .
242Cm has a half - life of 163 days and decays into238Pu through alpha decomposition or decay through spontaneous fission .
( Source : Jefferson Lab
