Plutonium         Plutonium is a radioactive metallic element. Although it is occasionally found in nature, mostly all of our plutonium is produced artificially in a lab. The official chemical symbol for plutonium is Pu, coming from its first and third letters. Its atomic number is ninety-four. Plutonium is able to maintain its solid state until very high temperatures, melting at six hundred and forty degrees Celsius, and boiling at three thousand four hundred and sixty degrees. …showed first 75 words of 843 total…

…showed last 75 words of 843 total…decays with a half-life of about thirteen years emitting negatively charged beta particles, or electrons. It then converts to Am-241, an isotope of americium, which emits alpha particles for 470 years, before turning into Am-242, which converts to Cm-242, an isotope of curium, in only sixteen hours. The Cm-242 emits alpha particles for about 162 days before ending the decay of Plutonium 241.                   Chemical Equation for Producing Plutonium: 92U-238 ----> 92U-239 ----> 93Np-239 ----> 94Pu-239