October 31 - November 3, 2004
Element of the Day
Friday, October 8
Einsteinium, the seventh transuranic element of the actinide series to be discovered, was identified by Ghiorso and co-workers at Berkeley in December 1952 in debris from the first large thermonuclear explosion, which took place in the Pacific in November, 1952. Tracer studies using 253Es show that einsteinium has chemical properties typical of a heavy trivalent, actinide element. (Los Alamos National Laboratory's Chemistry Division Presen). Standard state: solid at 298 K. Color: unknown, but probably metallic and silvery white or gray in appearance. Classification: Metallic