home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Name : Actinium
- Symbol : Ac
- Atomic # : 89
- Atom weight: 227.028
- Melting P. : 1050
- Boiling P. : 3200
- Oxidation : +3
- Pronounced : ak-TIN-i-em
- From : Greek aktis, aktinos, "ray"
- Identified : Andre-Louis Debierne in 1899
- Appearance : Heavy, Silvery-white metal that is very radioactive
- Note : Glows in dark with an eerie blue light
-
- [Properties]
-
- Actinium is a heavy, silvery-white metal that is very radioactive.
- Samples decay quickly to thorium and francium, making it difficult to
- determine precise physical properties.
- Actinium is the last member of the Group-IIIB elements. More important,
- actinium is the first of a series of metals that share a number of
- important physical and chemical properties. These are the actinide
- elements - elements 89 through 103.
- Actinium is obtained as an "impurity" in the pitchblende that is mined
- for its uranium content. After picking through a ton of pitchblende, one
- can expect to squeeze about one tenth of a gram of actinium out of it.
- There is no call for commercial quantities of actinium.
-