`nēəm), radioactive chemical element; symbol Np; at. no. 93; at. wt. 237.0482; m.p. about 640°C;; b.p. 3,902°C; (estimated); sp. gr. 20.25 at 20°C;; valence +3, +4, +5, or +6. Neptunium is a ductile, silvery radioactive metal. It is a member of the actinide series actinide series, a series of radioactive metallic elements in Group 3 of the periodic table. Members of the series are often called actinides, although actinium (at. no. 89) is not always considered a member of the series...... Click the link for more information. in Group 3 of the periodic table periodic table, chart of the elements arranged according to the periodic law discovered by Dmitri I. Mendeleev and revised by Henry G. J. Moseley. In the periodic table the elements are arranged in columns and rows according to increasing atomic number (see the table
..... Click the link for more information. . Neptunium has three distinct forms (see allotropy allotropy [Gr.,=other form]. A chemical element is said to exhibit allotropy when it occurs in two or more forms in the same physical state; the forms are called allotropes.
..... Click the link for more information. ); the orthorhombic crystalline structure occurs at room temperature. Neptunium forms numerous chemical compounds. The element was discovered in 1940 by Edwin M. McMillan McMillan, Edwin Mattison, 1907–91, American physicist, b. Redondo Beach, Calif., grad. California Institute of Technology, 1928, Ph.D. Princeton, 1932. On the faculty of the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. and Philip H. Abelson, who produced neptunium-239 (half-life half-life, measure of the average lifetime of a radioactive substance (see radioactivity) or an unstable subatomic particle. One half-life is the time required for one half of any given quantity of the substance to decay.
..... Click the link for more information. 2.3 days) by bombarding uranium with neutrons from a cyclotron at the Univ. of California at Berkeley. Neptunium, the first transuranium element transuranium elements, in chemistry, radioactive elements with atomic numbers greater than that of uranium (at. no. 92). All the transuranium elements of the actinide series were discovered as synthetic radioactive isotopes at the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. , was named for the planet Neptune, which is beyond Uranus in the solar system. Neptunium is found in very small quantities in nature in association with uranium ores. There are 20 known isotopes of neptunium. Neptunium-237, the most stable, has a half-life of 2.14 million years and is used in neutron-detection equipment.
neptunium
neptunium [nep′tü·nē·əm]
Neptunium
Np, an artificially produced radioactive chemical element of the actinide group. Atomic number, 93; atomic weight, 237.0482. It was discovered in 1940 by the American scientists E. M. McMillan and P. H. Abelson, who determined that the uranium isotope 239U, which forms during neutron bombardment of 238U, decays rapidly, emitting a β-particle, and is converted into an isotope of the element with atomic number 93. The element was named after the planet Neptune.
By 1973, 15 neptunium isotopes had been obtained; 237Np has the longest half-life (α-emitter; T½ = 2.14 × 106 yr). The β- radioactive isotope 239 Np (T½ = 2.346 days) is widely used in research. The successive transformations of the isotope 237Np yield the stable isotope 209Bi; this chain of transformations is called the neptunium radioactive series. Negligible quantities of 237Np and 239Np are found in uranium ores, where they are continuously formed as a result of nuclear interactions of uranium atoms and neutrons.
Elementary neptunium is a malleable, relatively soft metal with a silver luster. Density, about 20 g/cm3; melting point, 640°C
The three outer electron shells of a neptunium atom have the configurations 5s25p6, 5d105f4, and 6s26d1 7s2; the 5f-, 6d-, and 7s-electrons take part in the formation of neptunium compounds. The chemical properties of neptunium are very similar to those of uranium and plutonium. The oxidation numbers of neptunium compounds range from +2 to +7. In solution, neptunium produces the ions Np3+, Np4+, NpO2+ (the most stable), NpO22+, and NpO53-; all neptunium ions tend toward hydrolysis and complexing.
Ponderable quantities of isotope 237Np are formed as a byproduct during the production of plutonium in nuclear reactors through nuclear reactions of uranium and neutrons. Neptunium is mainly used in scientific research.
REFERENCE
Mikhailov, V. A. Analiticheskaia khimiia neptuniia. Moscow, 1971. (See also References under ACTINIDES.)S. S. BERDONOSOV
How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
| ?Page tools | ||
|---|---|---|
|