Illustration of Curium

1944 Curium

The book of science

Tom Sharp

Berkeley, ChicagoGlenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, Albert Ghiorso elements Illustration of Curium

Curium

Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso bombarded plutonium-239 oxide with helium nuclei. They separated curium-242 and curium-240 after dissolving the bombarded plutonium oxide in acids.

Atomic number 96

Curium decays mainly by emitting alpha particles which has been used for X-ray spectrometers on Mars landers.

No curium

The last primordial curium disappeared millions of years after our planet formed. So if you take a walk into the desert and find any curium, it will have come from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests. Unless you take a swim in the pools that cool spent nuclear fuel, you won’t find any curium. None. No curium. If we were to end all nuclear power and nuclear weaponry, all the curium on Earth would eventually dissolve.

There are twenty-one isotopes of curium, and all of them radioactive and cancerous.

See also in The book of science:

Readings in wikipedia:

Other readings:

  • Curium,” Elementymology & Elements Multidict, by Peter van der Krogt