October 31 - November 3, 2004
Element of the Day
Sunday, October 10
Although curium follows americium in the periodic system, it was actually the third trans-uranium element to be discovered. It was identified by Seaborg, James, and Ghiorso in 1944 at the wartime metallurgical laboratory at the University of Chicago as a result of helium-ion bombardment of 239Pu in the Berkeley, California, 60-inch cyclotron. (Los Alamos National Laboratory's Chemistry Division) Most compounds of Cm (III) are faintly yellow. If curium enters the body it accumulates in the bones, and is therefore very toxic as its radiation destroys the red-cell forming mechanism. Curium is a radioactive rare earth metal. The most stable isotope is 247Cm with a half-life of 16 million years. Curium is probably present in uranium ores. It has a few specialized uses but only a few of its compounds are known.Standard state: solid at 298 K. Colour: silver. Classification: Metallic.