Californium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Cf and atomic number 98.
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14 Facts About Californium
2.
Californium is one of the few transuranium elements with practical applications.
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3.
Californium can be used in nuclear synthesis of higher mass elements; oganesson was synthesized by bombarding californium-249 atoms with calcium-48 ions.
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4.
Californium reacts when heated with hydrogen, nitrogen, or a chalcogen ; reactions with dry hydrogen and aqueous mineral acids are rapid.
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5.
Californium is the heaviest actinide to exhibit covalent properties, as is observed in the californium borate.
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6.
Californium-252 is a very strong neutron emitter, which makes it extremely radioactive and harmful.
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7.
Californium was first made at University of California Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley, by physics researchers Stanley Gerald Thompson, Kenneth Street Jr.
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8.
Californium metal was first prepared in 1974 by Haire and Baybarz, who reduced californium oxide with lanthanum metal to obtain microgram amounts of sub-micrometer thick films.
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9.
Californium is not a major radionuclide at United States Department of Energy legacy sites since it was not produced in large quantities.
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10.
Californium was once believed to be produced in supernovas, as their decay matches the 60-day half-life of Cf.
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11.
Californium-250 is made by bombarding berkelium-249 with neutrons, forming berkelium-250 via neutron capture which, in turn, quickly beta decays to californium-250 in the following reaction:.
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12.
Californium-253 is at the end of a production chain that starts with uranium-238, includes several isotopes of plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, and the californium isotopes 249 to 253 .
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13.
Californium has been used to produce other transuranium elements; for example, element 103 was first synthesized in 1961 by bombarding californium with boron nuclei.
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14.
Californium can enter the body from ingesting contaminated food or drinks or by breathing air with suspended particles of the element.
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