'Nick+Han'+Neptunium-+From+outer+space+to+earth?

 93 **Np ** Neptunium 237   **Atomic Number: ** 93 **Atomic Weight: ** 237 **Melting Point: ** 917 K (644°C or 1191°F) **Boiling Point: ** 4175 K (3902°C or 7056°F) **Density: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> 20.25 grams per cubic centimeter **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Phase at Room Temperature: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Solid **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Element Classification: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Metal **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Period Number: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> 7 **Group Number:** none **Group Name:** Actinide **<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Radioactive and Artificially Produced ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Named after the planet **__<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Neptune __**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">. **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Pronounciation? **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Neptunium is pronounced as **nep-TOO-ni-em**. **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Estimated Crustal Abundance: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Not Applicable **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Estimated Oceanic Abundance: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Not Applicable **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Number of Stable Isotopes: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> 0 **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Ionization Energy: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> 6.266 eV <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Oxidation States: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> +6, +5, +4, +3 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">History and Uses: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%;">Neptunium was first produced by Edwin M. McMillian and Philip H. Abelson, working at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1940. They produced neptunium-239, an <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|isotope] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%;"> of neptunium with a <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|half-life]  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%;"> of about 2.4 days, by bombarding uranium with slow moving <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|neutrons]  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%;">. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 130%;">Neptunium's most stable isotope, neptunium-237, has a half-life of about 2,144,000 years. It decays into protactinium-233 through alpha decay. Neptunium-237, which is produced in gram quantities as a by-product of the production of plutonium in nuclear reactors, is used in neutron detectors. Once considered to be completely artificial, extremely small amounts of neptunium are produced naturally in uranium ores through the interaction of atoms of uranium in the ore with neutrons produced by the decay of other atoms of uranium in the ore. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> Neptunium is fissile, and could theoretically be used as reactor fuel or to create a nuclear weapon. In 1992, the U.S. Department of Energy declassified the statement that Np-237 "can be used for a nuclear explosive device". It is not believed that an actual weapon has ever been constructed using neptunium. In September 2002, researchers at the University of California Los Alamos National Laboratory created the first known nuclear critical mass using neptunium in combination with enriched uranium, discovering that the critical mass of neptunium is less than previously predicted. US officials in March 2004, planned to move the nation's supply of separated neptunium to a site in Nevada. [|video on Neptunium] [] []
 * [|**Electron Shell Configuration**]**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">   ||   || || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1s <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 9pt;">2 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
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 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5s <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 9pt;">2 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> ||   || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5p <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 9pt;">6 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">  ||   || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5d <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 9pt;">10 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">  ||   || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5f <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 9pt;">4 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">  ||   ||
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