Actinium it glows, but don't put it in your nose.

 

 

Occurrence in nature:

Actinium is found in uranium ores. It is produced by the radioactive decay, or breakdown, of uranium and other unstable elements. Actinium can also be artificially produced. When radium is bombarded with neutrons, some of the neutrons become part of the nucleus. This increases the atomic weight and the insecurity of the radium atom. The unstable radium decays, gives off radiation, and changes to actinium. This process can make actinium metal of 98 percent purity, used for research purposes

 

André-Louis Debierne:

André-Louis Debierne was born in 1874 in Paris France. He was a French chemist. His teacher was Charles Friedel. He was also a close friend of Pierre and Marie Curie (who invented Radium). In 1899, he discovered the radioactive element actinium while he was continuing the Curies work on radioactive elements. After the death of Pierre Curie in 1906, Debierne helped Marie Curie carry on their work with radioactivity. In 1910, he and Marie Curie prepared radium in metallic form so that it was visible. They found that it was a alkaline earth metal. Debierne and Marie Curie had isolated radium into a pure metal. Andre Debierne died in 1949 in Paris.

 

Hazards:

Like all radioactive materials, actinium is a health hazard. If taken into the body, it tends to be deposited in the bones, where the energy it emits damages or destroys cells. Radiation is known to cause bone cancer and other disorders, but can also treat cancer. It is about as dangerous as plutonium. Eating this element would cause serious health hazards.

 

History:

In 1899 a French Chemist named André Debierne. André was born in 1874, in Paris, France. He went to the school of physics and chemistry. After he graduated he worked at the Sorbonne as an assistant to the Curies, which is where he found Actinium. He was later a director of the Radium Institute. He discovered Actinium in 1902.

Properties:

            Actinium is produced by the radioactive decay, or breakdown, of uranium and other unstable elements. It is a slivery-white and decays quickly into thorium and francium. It is also so reactive that the air around it glows. Also it has a melting point of 1050°C (1920°F) and a boiling point estimating to be around 3200°C (5800°F)

 

Actinides:

This row is called the actinides, a collection of 14 radioactive elements named after the element actinium. There are two rows under the table; the Lanthanide and Actinide series. The Actinides are all radioactive and some are not found in nature. Some of the elements, with higher atomic numbers have only been made in labs. There are special laboratories that specialize in experimenting on elements; some of these particle accelerators have pounded atomic particles into elements with lower atomic numbers. The buildup of additional parts creates short-lived elements.
 

 

Actinium main facts:
Ac
Group 3
 ack-TIN-ee-u
#89
Family 7
 Oxidation= +3
227.0278 (atomic mass)
Transition Metal
 Actinide

 

Actinium is produced by radioactive decay of uranium. To learn more about Uranium click here

 

Glossary
 

Ore- a metal-bearing mineral or rock, or a native metal, that can be mined at a profit.

Radioactive- of, pertaining to, exhibiting, or caused by radioactivity.

Plutonium- a transuranic element with a fissile isotope of mass number 239.

Actinides- Any of a series of chemically similar, radioactive elements with atomic numbers ranging from 89 (actinium) through 103 (lawrencium).

Spectrum- when an element burns it gets a colorful spectrum

Abundance- Something that is abundant is common.

 

Bibliography

"Actinium Element Facts." Chemicool. 5 Feb. 2009.


David, Newton. Chemical Elements. Vol. 1. Detroit: UXL, 1999.


Hall, Prentic. Physical Science. Massachusetts: Pearson, 2008.


Heiserman, David. Exploring Chemical Elements and their compounds. New York: TAB Books, 1992.


Stwertka, Albert. A Guide to the Elements. New York: Oxford University, 2002.


Return to Top of Page