Name:_________________________________Date:_____________________Period:_____
Synthetic Elements
Handout
Synthetic elements are radioactive elements that were not discovered occurring in nature
but were artificially produced elements (isotopes). Some of these elements were later shown to
exist in trace amounts in nature. Synthetic elements are usually produced as short-lived
members of natural radioactive decay.
Technetium
• Element 43 was discovered in 1937.
• First element produced artificially.
• Discovered in a sample of molybdenum, which was bombarded by deuterons in a cyclotron.
• Found in the spectrum of S-, M-, and N-type stars, and its presence in stellar matter is leading
to new theories of the production of heavy elements in the stars.
• Used in many radioactive isotope tests because of its ability to chemically bind to many
biologically active molecules.
Promethium
• Element 61 was chemically identified in 1947.
• Identified by ion-exchange chromatography while performing experiments involving the
fission of uranium and subsequent neutron bombardment of neodymium.
• It can be used as a nuclear-powered battery by capturing light in photocells that convert it into
electric current. Such a battery would have a useful life of about 5 years.
Astatine
• Synthesized in 1940 by bombarding bismuth with alpha particles.
• Exists in equilibrium with uranium and thorium in the earth’s crust, but the total amount is
less than 1 oz.
• Sometimes used as a radioactive tracer.
Francium
• Discovered in 1939 as a result of an alpha disintegration of actinium.
• Naturally occurring in uranium minerals, however, there is probably less than an ounce of
francium at any time in the total crust of the earth.
• Of the first 101 elements, it is the most un-stable.
• The longest-lived isotope with a half-life of 22 minutes.
Transuranium Elements
• Atomic number’s 93 – 100.
• neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium and fermium
• Created by bombarding a heavy element, such as uranium or plutonium with neutrons or
alpha particles.
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© 2004 High School Technology Initiative (HSTI) Educational Materials: The ATOM: Nuclear
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Plutonium
• Produced in 1940 by deuteron bombardment of uranium in a cyclotron.
• It was a key material in the development of the industrial use of nuclear power.
• 1 kg is equivalent to about 22 million-kilowatt hours of heat energy.
• Also used as an explosive ingredient in nuclear weapons.
• Detonation of 1 kg of Plutonium produces an explosion equal to about 20,000 tons of
chemical explosive.
Curium
• Discovered in 1944 at the wartime Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago.
• Very toxic when absorbed into the body because it accumulates in the bones and disrupts the
formation of red blood cells.
• Used in the space program as a heat source (they generate heat as they undergo radioactive
decay) for compact thermionic and thermoelectric power generation.
• Used as alpha particle source for the Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer on Mars.
Americium
• Discovered in 1944 at the wartime Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago.
• It was used in industrial measuring devices as a portable source for gamma radiography, and
as an ionization source in household smoke detectors.
Transfermium Elements
• Atomic number 101 or greater.
• mendelevium, nobelium, lawrencium, rutherfordium, dubnium, seaborgium, bohrium,
hassium, meitnerium, Element 110, Element 111, Element 112, Element 114, Element 116
and Element 118
• These elements are produced one atom at a time by the fusion of the nuclei of two lighter
elements.
• The half-lives of these elements range from minutes to milliseconds.
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© 2004 High School Technology Initiative (HSTI) Educational Materials: The ATOM: Nuclear