Plutonium

Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric. It is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous.

Read full article on Wikipedia →

Collector Notes

0 notes

Loading notes…

Quiz

Generating a question from this article…

Loading latest news…

Discussion

Sign in to join the conversation.

Loading…

Against the dead internet

Bots wrote the feed. Models ate the web. Wikipedia is one of the last human-made commons left — support the real internet.

Donate to Wikipedia →