Description
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Plutonium is an actinide that has a silvery white color in its natural solid appearance. This element is known for its unusual chemical characteristics including the fact that it has six allotropes, is sensitive to atmospheric changes, and it become brittle with time due to its characteristic to self-irradiate itself. Plutonium has an atomic weight of 244, a melting point of 1182.9 °F, and a boiling point of 5842 °F. Plutonium is used to power pacemakers, and as a component in nuclear weapons.
Isolation
Plutonium exists naturally in the crust of the Earth and in uranium ores. Most of the plutonium that is used for commercial purposes though is artificially synthesized.
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The artificial creation of plutonium takes place using uranium. The first creation of plutonium was carried out by using the deuteron bombardment of uranium. Plutonium that was subsequently produced for use in the first atomic bomb was produced in a graphite reactor. Today, plutonium is created by bombarding uranium-233 with neutrons. This bombardment takes place in a nuclear reactor. As uranium is used to fuel the reactor, plutonium is continually produced from the nuclear reactors. Another process that can be used to create a different isotope of plutonium uses neptunium; once neptunium is produced from the decay of uranium-237, it can be chemically separated and irradiated by reactor neutrons to form another isotope, neptunium 238. This isotope then decays to form the isotope of plutonium Pu-238. Plutonium is extremely toxic and dangerous; disposal problems of excess plutonium have been causing environmental concerns.