When you buy through link on our site , we may realize an affiliate military commission . Here ’s how it works .
Atomic Number : 97Atomic Symbol : BkAtomic Weight : 247Melting full stop : 1,922 F ( 1,050 C)Boiling Point : Unknown
Word Origin : Berkelium was advert for the metropolis of its ancestry , Berkeley , California .
Berkelium
Discovery : Bk was first farm at the University of California , Berkeley , in 1949 by Stanley G. Thompson , Glenn T. Seaborg , Kenneth Street Jr. and Albert Ghiorso . Initial probe were limited to tracer experiments ( ion exchange and carbon monoxide gas - hurriedness ) but in 1952 experimentation were initiated to provide macro amounts of Bk .
Properties of Bk
atomic number 97 is the 8th fellow member of theactinidetransition serial . As a metallic element , it has a silvery coming into court that speedily oxidizes in air or oxygen at elevated temperatures , forming an oxide . It is well soluble in dilute mineral acids . The metal exhibits two crystal forms : a double hexagonal closest take and a face - centered cubic . [ SeePeriodic Table of the Elements ]
Berkelium oxidisation commonwealth 0 , III , and IV are known to exist , and some evidence has been offered for the existence of II . There is , however , only speculation about the potential existence of V ion .
As with other actinide elements , berkelium tends to gather in the gaunt system .
Sources of Bk
Berkelium is artificially create , and has only been produced in relatively small amounts . It can be made through bombarding241Am , an isotope of americium , with alpha particles using a cyclotron . This yields243Bk and two free neurons .
Numerous alloys and compounds of Bk have been prepared and studied .
Uses of atomic number 97
Because it is unnaturally bring out and only small amounts exist , berkelium ’s chief economic consumption is in canonic scientific inquiry . It has proven quite utile in that regard .
Due to its relatively long half - liveliness and microgram amount availability,249Bk is used extensively as a butt to synthesize threatening chemical element by charged particle bombardment .
As the first member of the second one-half of the actinon series , its study can enable a more accurate understanding of the behavior of large constituent , which can be hard to study because of scarcity , radiation , and more .
Isotopesof berkelium
There are 14 love isotopes of berkelium , graze from the great unwashed number 238 to 251 . Berkelium ’s most static isotope is247Bk , which has a half - life-time of about 1,389 year . Through alpha decay , it decays to243Am .
( source : Los Alamos National Laboratory , Jefferson Lab )
