Californium - Isotopes

Californium is a synthetic element in the periodic table that has the symbol Cf and atomic number 98. A radioactive transuranic element, californium has very few uses and was discovered by bombarding curium with alpha particles (helium ions). Californium - Notable characteristics. Weighable amounts of californium make it possible to determine some of its properties using macroscopic quantities. Californium-252 (2.6 year half-life) is a very strong neutron emitter and is thus extremely radioactive and ...

Including:

• Californium - Notable characteristics
• Californium - History
• Californium - Isotopes

Read more here: » Californium: Encyclopedia - Californium

Weighable amounts of californium make it possible to determine some of its properties using macroscopic quantities. Californium-252 (2.6 year half-life) is a very strong neutron emitter and is thus extremely radioactive and harmful (one microgram spontaneously emits 170 million neutrons per minute). The decay of californium-254 (55-day half-life) may have been detected through telescopes in supernovae remnants. Californium-249 is formed from the beta decay of berkelium-249 and most other californium isotopes are made by subjecting berke ...

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Californium, Californium - Notable characteristics, Californium - History, Californium - Isotopes

Read more here: » Californium: Encyclopedia II - Californium - Notable characteristics

Californium was first synthesized by University of California, Berkeley researchers Stanely Thompson, Kenneth Street, Jr., Albert Ghiorso and Glenn T. Seaborg in 1950. It was the sixth transuranium element to be discovered and the team announced their discovery on March 17, 1950. It was named after the U.S. state of California and for the University of California system. To produce element 98, the team bombarded a microgram-sized target of curium-242 with 35 MeV alpha particles in the 60-inch Berkeley cyclotron which produced atoms of californium-245 (ha ...

See also:

Californium, Californium - Notable characteristics, Californium - History, Californium - Isotopes

Read more here: » Californium: Encyclopedia II - Californium - History