12 Facts About Neptunium

Neptunium is a chemical element with the symbol Np and atomic number 93.

Neptunium metal is silvery and tarnishes when exposed to air.

Neptunium metal is similar to uranium in terms of physical workability.

Neptunium has five ionic oxidation states ranging from +3 to +7 when forming chemical compounds, which can be simultaneously observed in solutions.

Neptunium proposed the name bohemium for the element, but after being analyzed it turned out that the sample was a mixture of tungsten and vanadium.

Neptunium quickly realized that one of the half-lives closely matched the known 23-minute decay period of uranium-239, but the other half-life of 2.

Neptunium-237 is the most commonly synthesized isotope due to it being the only one that both can be created via neutron capture and has a half-life long enough to allow weighable quantities to be easily isolated.

Neptunium hydroxide is quite stable in acidic solutions and in environments that lack oxygen, but it will rapidly oxidize to the IV state in the presence of air.

Neptunium has been observed to form ternary oxides with many additional elements in groups 3 through 7, although these compounds are much less well studied.

Neptunium reacts with hydrogen in a similar manner to its neighbor plutonium, forming the hydrides NpH2+x and NpH3 .

Neptunium is fissionable, and could theoretically be used as fuel in a fast-neutron reactor or a nuclear weapon, with a critical mass of around 60 kilograms.

Neptunium-237 is the most mobile actinide in the deep geological repository environment.