Discovery date : 1944
Discovered by: Glenn Seaborg and colleagues
Origin of the name: Curium is named in honour of Pierre and Marie Curie.
Allotropes :
~>CURIUM is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with symbol Cm and atomic number 96. This element of the actinide series was named after Marie and Pierre Curie, both were known for their research on radioactivity.
| FACT BOX | |||
| Group | Actinides | Melting point | 1345°C, 2453°F, 1618 K |
| Period | 7 | Boiling point | Unknown |
| Block | f | Density (g cm−3) | 13.51 |
| Atomic number | 96 | Relative atomic mass | [247] |
| State at 20°C | Solid | Key isotopes | 243Cm,248Cm |
| Electron configuration | [Rn] 5f76d17s2 | CAS number | 7440-51-9 |
| ChemSpider ID | 22415 | ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database | |
Curium was first made by the team of Glenn Seaborg, Ralph James, and Albert Ghiorso in 1944, using the cyclotron at Berkeley, California. They bombarded a piece of the newly discovered element plutonium (isotope 239) with alpha-particles. This was then sent to the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago where a tiny sample of curium was eventually separated and identified. However, news of the new element was not disclosed until after the end of World War II. Most unusually, it was first revealed by Seaborg when he appeared as the guest scientist on a radio show for children on 11 November 1945. It was officially announced the following week.