What is Plutonium?
Plutonium is a silvery-white radioactive metal. Most plutonium is found combined with other substances. Trace amounts of plutonium occur naturally, but large amounts have been produced in nuclear reactors. Trace levels of plutonium can be found in the environment, from past nuclear bomb tests, in several forms called isotopes. The most common plutonium isotopes are plutonium-238 and plutonium-239. Each radioactive isotope of an element constantly gives off radiation, which changes it into an isotope of a different element or a different isotope of the same element. This process is called radioactive decay. The half-life is the time it takes for half of the atoms of a radionuclide to undergo radioactive decay and change it into a different isotope. The half-life of plutonium-238 is 87.7 years. The half-life of plutonium-239 is 24,100 years. The half-life of plutonium-240 is 6,560 years.
Plutonium is a silvery-gray, radioactive metal named after the planet Pluto. It is essentially a man-made element discovered in 1940 after uranium-238 was bombarded with neutrons in a device called a cyclotron. Plutonium-239, as well as uranium-235 and uranium-233, are among the few materials whose atoms can be split (or “fissioned”) to create a nuclear explosion, which releases massive amounts of energy instantly. How is it used? Plutonium is used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. It was first made in significant quantities during the World War II Manhattan Project in the 1940s. Plutonium can also be used as a fuel in certain types of nuclear reactors where the fission process is controlled so that large quantities of energy are released more slowly to make steam and produce electricity. The split plutonium atoms become lighter elements such as cesium-137 and strontium-90, many of which are highly radioactive. These “fission products” are radioactive waste, although some are usef
Plutonium is a metallic chemical element classified among the actinides on the periodic table of elements. This highly radioactive element is used primarily in weapons and nuclear power plants, and it has become somewhat well known because of these uses. In nature, plutonium is relatively rare, occurring in uranium rich ores in trace amounts; most of the world’s working supply of this element is obtained through neutron bombardment of uranium, a close neighbor on the periodic table. When plutonium is isolated, its appearance may vary, because it has six allotropic forms, meaning that the element has six different structures under normal conditions. These forms vary in terms of density, although they all share the basic chemical properties of toxicity, radioactivity, and reactivity with many other elements. Most forms of plutonium are silvery-gray, but they oxidize to a dull yellow over time. Quantities which are large enough are also warm to the touch, due to the alpha particles they e
