Plutonium, 94Pu
Two shiny pellets of plutonium of about 3 cm in diameter
A sample of plutonium metal, shaped like a ring to prevent nuclear criticality
Plutonium
Pronunciation/plˈtniəm/ (ploo-TOH-nee-əm)
Allotropessee Allotropes of plutonium
Appearancesilvery white, tarnishing to dark gray in air
Mass number[244]
Plutonium in the periodic table
Atomic number (Z)94
Groupf-block groups (no number)
Periodperiod 7
Block  f-block
Electron configuration[Rn] 5f6 7s2
Electrons per shell2, 8, 18, 32, 24, 8, 2
Physical properties
Phase at STPsolid
Melting point912.5 K (639.4 °C, 1182.9 °F)
Boiling point3505 K (3228 °C, 5842 °F)
Density (at 20° C)19.85 g/cm3 [1] α-239
Pu
(near r.t.)20.26 g/cm3 α-244
Pu
when liquid (at m.p.)16.63 g/cm3
Heat of fusion2.82 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization333.5 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity35.5 J/(mol·K)
Vapor pressure
P (Pa) 1 10 100 1 k 10 k 100 k
at T (K) 1756 1953 2198 2511 2926 3499
Atomic properties
Oxidation statescommon: +4
+2,[2] +3,[3] +5,[3] +6,[3] +7,[3] +8[4]
ElectronegativityPauling scale: 1.28
Ionization energies
  • 1st: 584.7 kJ/mol
Atomic radiusempirical: 159 pm
Covalent radius187±1 pm
Color lines in a spectral range
Spectral lines of plutonium
Other properties
Natural occurrencefrom decay
Crystal structure monoclinic (mP16)
Lattice constants
Monoclinic crystal structure for plutonium
a = 0.6183 nm
b = 0.4822 nm
c = 1.0964 nm
β = 101.79° (at 20 °C)[1]
Thermal expansion49.6×10−6/K (at 20 °C)[1]
Thermal conductivity6.74 W/(m⋅K)
Electrical resistivity1.460 µΩ⋅m (at 0 °C)
Magnetic orderingparamagnetic
Young's modulus96 GPa
Shear modulus43 GPa
Speed of sound2260 m/s
Poisson ratio0.21
CAS Number7440-07-5
History
Namingafter dwarf planet Pluto, itself named after classical god of the underworld Pluto
DiscoveryGlenn T. Seaborg, Arthur Wahl, Joseph W. Kennedy, Edwin McMillan (1940–1941)
Isotopes of plutonium
Main isotopes[5] Decay
Isotope abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
236Pu synth 2.858 y α 232U
SF
238Pu trace 87.7 y[6] α 234U
SF
239Pu trace 2.411×104 y α 235U
SF
240Pu trace 6.561×103 y α 236U
SF
241Pu synth 14.33 y β 241Am
α 237U
SF
242Pu synth 3.75×105 y α 238U
SF
244Pu trace 8.13×107 y α 240U
SF
 Category: Plutonium
| references
child table, as reused in {IB-Pu}
Main isotopes of plutonium
Main isotopes[5] Decay
Isotope abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
236Pu synth 2.858 y α 232U
SF
238Pu trace 87.7 y[6] α 234U
SF
239Pu trace 2.411×104 y α 235U
SF
240Pu trace 6.561×103 y α 236U
SF
241Pu synth 14.33 y β 241Am
α 237U
SF
242Pu synth 3.75×105 y α 238U
SF
244Pu trace 8.13×107 y α 240U
SF
Data sets read by {{Infobox element}}
Name and identifiers
Symbol etymology (11 non-trivial)
Top image (caption, alt) caption:
alt:
Pronunciation
Allotropes (overview)
Group (overview)
Period (overview)
Block (overview)
Natural occurrence
Phase at STP
Oxidation states
Spectral lines image
Electron configuration (cmt, ref)
Isotopes
Standard atomic weight
  most stable isotope
Wikidata
Wikidata *
* Not used in {{Infobox element}} (2023-01-01)
See also {{Index of data sets}} · Cat:data sets (45) · (this table: )

References

  1. 1 2 3 Arblaster, John W. (2018). Selected Values of the Crystallographic Properties of Elements. Materials Park, Ohio: ASM International. ISBN 978-1-62708-155-9.
  2. Windorff, Cory J.; Chen, Guo P; Cross, Justin N; Evans, William J.; Furche, Filipp; Gaunt, Andrew J.; Janicke, Michael T.; Kozimor, Stosh A.; Scott, Brian L. (2017). "Identification of the Formal +2 Oxidation State of Plutonium: Synthesis and Characterization of {PuII[C5H3(SiMe3)2]3}". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139 (11): 3970–3973. doi:10.1021/jacs.7b00706. PMID 28235179.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 28. doi:10.1016/C2009-0-30414-6. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
  4. Preparation of plutonium(VIII) compounds has been claimed, see Zaitsevskii, Andréi; Mosyagin, Nikolai S.; Titov, Anatoly V.; Kiselev, Yuri M. (July 21, 2013). "Relativistic density functional theory modeling of plutonium and americium higher oxide molecules". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 139 (3) 034307. Bibcode:2013JChPh.139c4307Z. doi:10.1063/1.4813284. PMID 23883027. and Kiselev, Yu. M.; Nikonov, M. V.; Dolzhenko, V. D.; Ermilov, A. Yu.; Tananaev, I. G.; Myasoedov, B. F. (January 17, 2014). "On existence and properties of plutonium(VIII) derivatives". Radiochimica Acta. 102 (3): 227–237. doi:10.1515/ract-2014-2146. S2CID 100915090. But their existence has been partially disproven, see Fedosseev, Alexander M.; Bessonov, Alexi A.; Shilov, Vladimir P. (September 5, 2022). "Is octavalent plutonium really formed during oxidation in alkaline aqueous solutions?". Radiochimica Acta. 110 (12): 955–959. doi:10.1515/ract-2022-0056.
  5. 1 2 Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S.; Audi, G. (2021). "The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C. 45 (3) 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddae.
  6. 1 2 Magurno & Pearlstein 1981, pp. 835 ff.