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californium

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008

californium [from California ], artificially produced, radioactive metallic chemical element; symbol Cf; at. no. 98; mass no. of most stable isotope 251; m.p. about 900°C; b.p. about 1,470°C; density unknown; valence +3. Californium is a member of the actinide series of chemical elements, found in Group 3 of the periodic table . Its chemical properties are similar to those of lanthanum . Eighteen isotopes of californium are known, with half-lives ranging from about 40 sec for californium-239 to about 900 years for californium-251, the most stable isotope. Californium-249 (half-life 351 years) is most useful for chemical investigations; it is obtained by the decay of berkelium-249. Four solid compounds of californium have been prepared; they are the trichloride, oxychloride, oxyfluoride, and oxide. Californium-252 (half-life 2.6 years) is produced in nuclear reactors for use as a source of neutrons for counters and electronic systems in industrial and medical applications. The sixth transuranium element to be synthesized, californium has yet to be found in the earth's crust. Californium was first produced in 1950 by Glenn T. Seaborg , Stanley G. Thompson, Albert Ghiorso, and Kenneth Street, Jr., in a cyclotron at the Univ. of California at Berkeley by bombarding curium-242 with alpha particles, resulting in californium-245 (half-life 45 min).

Author not available, CALIFORNIUM., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008

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	Rare fission processes.(research on splitting of californium-252)(Brief Article) Science News; 5/2/1998; Peterson, Ivars; 150 words ; ... that, in addition to normal spontaneous fission, the isotope californium-252 occasionally splits in two in such a way that no neutrons ... fission events. Ramayya and his coworkers have also found that californium-252 sometimes breaks into three fragments--two of moderate ... Read more
	Calcium + Californium = element 118, scientists say Daily Breeze; 10/17/2006; Seth Borenstein THE ASSOCIATED PRESS; 274 words ; ... created a new superheavy element, atomic No. 118. Scientists said they smashed together calcium with the artificial element Californium to make an atom with 118 protons in its nucleus. The new element lasted for just one millisecond, but it was the heaviest ... Read more
	Biogeography of Two Species of Symbiodinium (Freudenthal) Inhabiting the Intertidal Sea Anemone Anthopleura elegantissima (Brandt). The Biological Bulletin; 10/1/2000; LAJEUNESSE, T. C. TRENCH, R. K.; 6726 words ; ... co-occurs with a second dinoflagellate, S. californium, in mixed populations in central and ... preparation. The cultured Symbiodinium californium (#383, Banaszak et al., 1993) was originally ... the restriction pattern of cultured S. californium, whose SSUrDNA does not yield a classical ... Read more
	Germans charge 4 in nuclear crime The Boston Globe; 1/23/1993; AP); 88 words ; ... material at a highway rest stop. The four were completing a sale of Californium 252 near the eastern German town of Freienhufen when they were detained on Wednesday. Californium 252 is produced in nuclear reactors and used to provide neutrons ... Read more
	U.S. and Russian team discover element 118.(IN THE NEWS)(Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research)(Brief article) Machine Design; 12/14/2006; 96 words ; ... element 118. Three atoms of the superheavy element, which has yet to be named, were created by bombarding a target made of californium with high-velocity calcium ions. It quickly transformed into element 116, then 114, through alpha particle decay. This is ... Read more
	Scientists create the heaviest chemical element ever made Charleston Daily Mail; 10/17/2006; SETH BORENSTEIN; 360 words ; ... said they smashed together calcium with the manmade element Californium to make an atom with 118 protons in its nucleus. The new ... was created last year in Russia using a minuscule amount of Californium provided by the Americans. After a millisecond, it decayed ... Read more
	Findings.(scientific discoveries) Harper's Magazine; 12/1/2006; 539 words ; ... the creation of a new superheavy element, known as element 118 or ununoctium, which was generated by firing calcium ions at californium; three atoms resulted from the experiments, and each lasted a small fraction of a second. Physicists in Geneva realized that ... Read more
	Back on the Table? Element 118 is served up again. Science News; 10/21/2006; Cunningham, A.; 423 words ; ... from different materials--an isotope of californium and calcium ions. During each of two ... runs, the research team pummeled the californium with 10 million trillion calcium ions ... in the second run in 2005--atoms of californium and calcium combined to form the new ... Read more
	Mycosporine-like amino acid content in four species of sea anemones in the genus Anthopleura reflects phylogenetic but not environmental or symbiotic relationships. The Biological Bulletin; 12/1/2002; Shick, J. Malcolm Dunlap, Walter C. Pearse, John S. Pearse, Vicki B.; 10424 words ; ... Banaszak and Trench, 1995), nor does S. californium isolated from A. elegantissima produce ... this case both S. muscatinei and S. californium (LaJeunesse and Trench, 2000). In Central ... of Banaszak and Trench (1995) that S. californium isolated from A. elegantissima did not ... Read more
	Smashing discovery.(PHYSICAL/PERIODIC TABLE)(chemical element no. 118 has been discovered by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Joint Institute for Nuclear Research)(Brief article) Science World; 1/15/2007; Scholl, Elizabeth; 151 words ; ... accelerator machine, the researchers smashed together calcium (Ca) and californium (Cf) at extremely high speeds. When an atom of calcium combined with an atom of californium, it produced an atom with 118 protons in its central nucleus. This ... Read more

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	Californium (revised) Chemical Elements: From Carbon to Krypton ... road builders and construction companies. Californium-252 is also used in medicine. When injected ... used to determine the health of the bone. Californium-252 is also used to treat ovarian and cervical cancer. Today, californium can be made only in milligram amounts. It ... government for $10 per millionth ... Read more
	Californium Chemistry: Foundations and Applications Californium melting point: 900 ° C boiling point: Unknown density: Unknown most common ions ... with accelerated helium ions in a cyclotron, to produce approximately 5,000 atoms of a californium isotope of mass 245 and a half-life of 44 minutes. Californium, like all the actinide elements heavier than ... Read more
	californium World Encyclopedia californium (symbol Cf) Radioactive metallic element of the actinide series , first made in 1950 by US nuclear chemist Glenn Seaborg ... and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, by alpha-particle bombardment of the curium isotope Cm 242 . Californium presents biological dangers because one microgram ... Read more
	Periodic Table of the Elements: Californium The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Periodic Table of the Elements: Californium Atomic Number: 98 Atomic Symbol: Cf Californium Atomic Weight: (251) Electron Configuration: 2 · 8 · 18 32 · 28 8 · 2 Read more
	californium The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English cal·i·for·ni·um / ˌkaləˈfôrnēəm / • n. the chemical element of atomic number 98, a radioactive metal of the actinide series. (Symbol: Cf ) Read more