See Also

Actinide

The actinide series encompasses the 15 chemical element Chemical element

A chemical element, often called simply an element, is a substance [i] that can ... 

s that lie between actinium and lawrencium on the periodic table with atomic numbers 89 - 103. The actinide series is named after actinium. All actinides are f-block elements except lawrencium. There are also alternative arrangements which do not include either actinium or lawrencium in the actinide series. The actanide series together with the lanthanide series comprise the rare earth elements Rare earth element

"Rare earth elements" and "rare earth metals" are trivial name [i]s sometimes applied to a collect ... 

. The actinides display less similarity in their chemical properties than the lanthanide series, for instance exhibiting a wider range of oxidation states, which initially led to confusion as to whether actinium, thorium and uranium should be considered d-block elements.

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Encyclopedia

Atomic No. Name Chemical element

A chemical element, often called simply an element, is a substance [i] that can... 

Symbol
89 Actinium  Ac
90 Thorium Thorium

Thorium is a chemical element [i] in the periodic table [i] that has the symbol Th and atomic number [i] ... 

 
Th
91 Protactinium  Pa
92 Uranium Uranium

Uranium is a chemical element [i] in the periodic table [i] that has the symbol U and atomic number [i] ... 

 
U
93 Neptunium  Np
94 Plutonium Plutonium

Plutonium is a radioactive [i], metal [i]lic chemical element [i].... 

 
Pu
95 Americium Americium

Americium is a synthetic element [i] in the periodic table [i] that has the symbol Am and atomic number [i] ... 

 
Am
96 Curium  Cm
97 Berkelium  Bk
98 Californium  Cf
99 Einsteinium  Es
100 Fermium  Fm
101 Mendelevium  Md
102 Nobelium  No
103 Lawrencium  Lr


The actinide series encompasses the 15 chemical element Chemical element

A chemical element, often called simply an element, is a substance [i] that can... 

s that lie between actinium and lawrencium on the periodic table with atomic numbers 89 - 103. The actinide series is named after actinium. All actinides are f-block elements except lawrencium. There are also alternative arrangements which do not include either actinium or lawrencium in the actinide series. The actanide series together with the lanthanide series comprise the rare earth elements Rare earth element

"Rare earth elements" and "rare earth metals" are trivial name [i]s sometimes applied to a collect ... 

.

The actinides display less similarity in their chemical properties than the lanthanide series, for instance exhibiting a wider range of oxidation states, which initially led to confusion as to whether actinium, thorium and uranium should be considered d-block elements. All actinides are radioactive.

Only actinium, thorium and uranium occur naturally in the earth's crust. The remaining actinides were synthesized in the 20th century by techniques such as neutron bombardment. The latter half of the series possess exceedingly short half-lives.

The actinides are typically placed below the main body of the periodic table, in the manner of a footnote. The full-width version of the periodic table shows the position of the actinides more clearly.

An Organometallic compound Organometallic Compound

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 of an actinide is known as an organoactinide.

Note that the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry is an international non-governmental organization [i] ... 

 are currently recommending the name actinoid rather than actinide, as the suffix "-ide" is generally used to indicate anions.

History of the actinide series

During his Manhattan Project Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project refers to the effort to develop the first nuclear weapon [i]s during World War II [i] ... 

 research in 1944, Glenn T. Seaborg Glenn T. Seaborg

Glenn Theodore Seaborg was an American [i] chemist [i] prominent in the discovery and iso ... 

 experienced unexpected difficulty isolating Americium and Curium . He began wondering if these elements more properly belonged to a different series which would explain why the expected chemical properties of the new elements were different. In 1945, he went against the advice of colleagues and proposed the most significant change to Mendeleev's periodic table to have been accepted universally by the scientific community: the actinide series.

In 1945, Seaborg published his 'actinide concept' of heavy element electronic structure, predicting that the actinides would form a transition series analogous to the rare earth series of lanthanide elements.

References