Americium atomic properties

Chemical studies show it to have properties very similar to uranium and neptunium but the lower cixidation states are rnon stable. Americium, atomic number 95, was the fourth transuranium element obtained. The reactions taking place on the bombardment of U by high energy... 

Alpha carbon atoms, 348 Alpha decay, 417, 443 Alpha particle, 417 scattering, 245 Aluminum boiling point, 365 compounds, 102 heat of vaporization, 365 hydration energy, 368 hydroxide, 371 ionization energies, 269, 374 metallic solid, 365 occurrence, 373 properties, 101 preparation, 238. 373 reducing agent, 367 Alums, 403 Americium... 

Glenn Theodore Seaborg (1912-1999), together with Stanley Gerald Thompson (1912-1967) and Albert Ghiorso ( 1915). The bombardment of americium-241 with alpha particles led to element 97 with atomic mass number 243. The enrichment involved chemical methods, as the properties of the element were assumed to be analogous to those of the lanthanides. 

The first part of the chapter is devoted to an analysis of these correlations, as well as to the presentation of the most important experimental results. In a second part the following stage of development is reviewed, i.e. the introduction of more quantitative theories mostly based on bond structure calculations. These theories are given a thermodynamic form (equation of states at zero temperature), and explain the typical behaviour of such ground state properties as cohesive energies, atomic volumes, and bulk moduli across the series. They employ in their simplest form the Friedel model extended from the d- to the 5f-itinerant state. The Mott transition (between plutonium and americium metals) finds a good justification within this frame. 

The isotope 242Cm was first isolated among the products of a-bombardment of 239Pu, and its discovery actually preceded that of americium. Isotopes of other elements were first identified in products from the first hydrogen bomb explosion (1952) or in cyclotron bombardments. Although Cm, Bk, and Cf have been obtained in macro amounts (Table 20-2), much of the chemical information has been obtained on the tracer scale. For the later elements, i.e., those with Z > 100, identification of a few atoms of short lifetime has required the use of very rapid separation techniques and detection based on their nuclear properties. 

Americium and curium were placed after actinium in the actinide series in the Periodic Table because their chemical properties were similar. Since that time, elements with atomic numbers to 118 have been reported by scientists around the world. 

The actinoid series encompasses the fourteen chemical elements with atomic numbers from 90 to 103, thorium (Th) to lawrencium (Lr). The actinoid series derives its name from the group-IIla element actinium (Ac) which can be included in the series for the purpose of comparison. Only Th and uranium (U) occur in usable quantities in nature. The other actinoids are man-made elements. Pure Th is a silvery-white metal which is air-stable and retains its luster for several months. U exhibits three crystallographic modifications as follows a (688°C) —> P (776°C) —> U is a heavy, silvery-white metal. The luster of freshly prepared americium (Am) is white and more silvery than neptunium (Np) or plutonium (Pu) prepared in the same manner. All actinoid elements are radioactive. Table 2.113 sutnmarizes some physical properties of actinoid metals (Th, U and Am). 

The differences between the actinide and lanthanide metals can be rationalized by a consideration of the differences between the 4f- and 5f-electron shells [25]. In the 4f series, all the 4f electrons (added after cerium) are buried in the interior of the electron cloud. The 4f electrons are thus confined to the core of the atom, and experience relatively little interaction with electrons in the 5d shell. The maxima in the radial charge density occur well inside the usual interatomic distances in solids, and consequently the 4f electron properties of the free atoms are retained in the metallic as well as ionic lanthanide solids. Cerium is the only 4f metal that does not conform to this generalization, presumably because its 4f-electron shell is not yet fully stabilized. The actinide 5f electrons behave quite differently. For the early members of the actinide series, the Sf electrons have a greater radial distribution than do their 4f homologs. The first few 5f electrons are not confined to the core of the atom, and they can therefore interact or mix with the other valence electrons to affect interatomic interactions in the solid state. Beyond plutonium, all the 5f electrons are localized within the atomic core, and the resemblance between the f-block elements becomes closer. Americium is the first actinide metal whose crystal structure resembles that of the lanthanide metals. In the transcurium metals, the resemblance to the lanthanide metals becomes increasingly stronger. The room-temperature crystal structure for the elements for Am to Cf is dhep, just as it is in the light lanthanides. 

Photoionization detection in a buffer gas has also been used to study the properties of superheavy (transuranium) elements with charge numbers Z > 92. Isotopes of such elements can only be produced by fission reactions in heavy-ion collisions or by transfer reactions using radioactive targets. The elements produced can be placed in an optical buffer-gas cell for the purpose of laser resonance photoionization spectroscopy. This was successfully demonstrated with atoms of such radioactive elements as americium (Z = 95) (Backe et al. 2000), einsteinium (Z = 99) (Kohler et al. 1997), and fermium (Z = 100) (Sewtz et al. 2003). 

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