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Advanced Information and Uses

Structure

    Plutonium's electron shells can be seen in the following picture.  It has an electron configuration of 1s²2s²2p⁶3s²3p⁶4s²3d¹⁰4p⁶5s²4d¹⁰5p⁶6s²4f¹⁴5d⁶6p⁶7s²5f⁶.

More information on electron configurations can be found by clicking here.

Table 1. Energy Levels and the Number of Electrons in Those Energy Levels

There are 94 electrons, 94 protons, and 150 neutrons in a single of the most stable plutonium atom.

A plutonium atom has a volume of 12.32cm³/mol.

The plutonium atom has a cross section of 1.8 barns ±0.3.  A barn is the unit of measure 10^-24 square centimeters.  A cross section is the size of the part of the nucleus that produces a nuclear reaction.  The bigger the cross section is, the bigger the probability of producing the nuclear reaction.

The ionic radius of a plutonium atom is 0.887 Ångstrom.  The ionic radius is the radius of the most compact ion.  One Ångstrom is 1 x 10^-10, or one ten-billionth of a meter.  This is equivalent to one tenth of a nanometer.

Also, it is monoclinic, which means in an atom there are three crystal axes, where two connect obliquely and are both perpendicular to the third. 

    There are 2 main isotopes of plutonium, but 20 total have been found so far.  The main isotopes are ²³⁸Pu and ²³⁹Pu.

***What is a Half Life?

Table 2. Isotopes and Their Half Lives

Note: All isotopes have a 0% natural abundance because they are man made.

Table 3. Plutonium Compounds and their Formulas

Plutonium and its Compounds Uses

²³⁹Plutonium is used in the nuclear bomb as well as in a nuclear reactor.  Uranium is the only other fissile substance that is used in a nuclear power plant.  In fact, the uranium beta decaying in the reactor produces ²³⁹neptunium, and another beta decay yields the ²³⁹plutonium.  Some of the energy from Progress Energy comes from the Sharon Harris nuclear power plant, and is created in this manner.

²³⁸Pu is made in nuclear reactors, through neptunium, and is used to make “radioisotope thermoelectric generators.”  These are used to power satellites or other devices in space that are too far away from the sun to harvest solar energy.

    Plutonium Forms Important Compounds with Oxygen, Carbon, and Fluorine:

    Plutonium Dioxide, PuO₂, can be combined with Uranium Dioxide, UO₂, to form a reactor fuel.

    Plutonium Carbide, PuC, Plutonium Dicarbide, PuC₂, and Diplutonium Tricarbide, Pu₂C₃, can also be used as fuels.

    Plutonium Trifluoride, PuF₃, and Plutonium Tetrafluoride, PuF₄ are both transitional stages in the production of plutonium metal.

While experimenting with plutonium, researchers accidentally discovered that the compound PuCoGa₅ was a superconductor at about 18 °Kelvin or -427°F.  Usually weaker substances began to conduct at a temperature of 1 or 2 °Kelvin.  Although there is no practical use for the compound, due to its toxicity, it has helped the understanding of superconductivity at very high temperatures.

Interesting Fact:

    Plutonium is also used for pacemakers.