BERKELIUM

• Atomic Number: 97
• Atomic Symbol: Bk
• Atomic Weight: (247)
• Electron Configuration: -27-8-2

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History:

(Berkeley, home of the University of California) Berkelium, the eighth member of the actinide transition series, was discovered in December 1949 by Thompson, Ghiorso, and Seaborg, and was the fifth transuranium element synthesized. It was produced by cy The evidence of 249Bk with a half-life of 314 days, makes it feasible to isolate berkelium in weighable amounts so taht its properties can be investigated with macroscopic quantities. One of the first visible amounts of a pur berkelium compound, berkeliu It weighed 1 billionth of a gram. Berkelium probably has not yet been prepared in elemental form, but is expected to be a silvery metal, easily soluble in dilute mineral acids, and readily oxidized by air or oxygen at elevated temperatures to form the ox X-ray diffraction methods have been used to identify various compounds. As with other actinide elements, berkelium tends to accumulate in the skeletal system. Because of its rarity, berkelium presently has NO COMMERCIAL OR TECHNOLOGICAL USE.

Source: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 1913-1995. David R. Lide, Editor in Chief. Author: C.R. Hammond