15 Facts About Protactinium

Protactinium is a chemical element with the symbol Pa and atomic number 91.

Protactinium's method was still used in the 1950s to isolate Th and Pa from uranium compounds.

Protactinium was first identified in 1913, when Kasimir Fajans and Oswald Helmuth Gohring encountered the isotope Pa during their studies of the decay chains of uranium-238: U ? Th ? Pa ? U They named the new element brevium because of its short half-life, 6.

Protactinium is one of the rarest and most expensive naturally occurring elements.

Protactinium is homogeneously dispersed in most natural materials and in water, but at much lower concentrations on the order of one part per trillion, that corresponds to the radioactivity of 0.

Protactinium is an actinide which is positioned in the periodic table to the left of uranium and to the right of thorium, and many of its physical properties are intermediate between those two actinides.

Protactinium is a metal with silvery-gray luster that is preserved for some time in air.

Protactinium easily reacts with oxygen, water vapor and acids, but not with alkalis.

Protactinium is paramagnetic and no magnetic transitions are known for it at any temperature.

Protactinium exists in two major oxidation states, +4 and +5, both in solids and solutions, and the +3 and +2 states were observed in some solid phases.

Protactinium oxides are known for the metal oxidation states +2, +4 and +5.

Protactinium oxides are basic; they easily convert to hydroxides and can form various salts, such as sulfates, phosphates, nitrates, etc.

Protactinium bromides are produced by the action of aluminium bromide, hydrogen bromide, carbon tetrabromide or a mixture of hydrogen bromide and thionyl bromide on protactinium oxide.

Protactinium iodide was obtained by heating protactinium iodide in vacuum.

Protactinium is both toxic and highly radioactive and thus all manipulations with it are performed in a sealed glove box.