Plutonium (nonfiction)

Plutonium-238 oxide pellet glowing from its own heat.

Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with symbol Pu and atomic number 94.

It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized.

It is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous.

Plutonium was first produced and isolated on December 14, 1940 by Glenn T. Seaborg, Joseph W. Kennedy, Edwin M. McMillan, and Arthur C. Wahl by deuteron bombardment of uranium-238 in the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley.

The first visible quantity of a plutonium compound, plutonium(IV) iodate, was isolated by nuclear chemists Burris Cunningham and Louis Werner on August 20, 1942.

Fiction cross-reference

• Manhattan Project

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Glenn T. Seaborg (nonfiction)
• Manhattan Project (nonfiction)
• Weapon (nonfiction)

External links:

• Plutonium @ Wikipedia