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Rundown about Promethium

Promethium(Pm) is a chemical element that classified as rare earth metal with atomic number 61. Promethium is a radioactive silver-white metal. Promethium’s instability made its research incomplete. It’s not possible to find a promethium on Earth surface, but it has been observed in the spectra of some stars in the galaxy of Andromeda. Promethium existence was proposed in 1902 by Czech chemist BohuslavBrauner. However, promethium was first produced and characterized in 1945 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the separation and analysis of the fission products of uranium fuel irradiated in a graphene reactor by Jacob A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin and Charles D. Coryell. Promethium gets its name from the Titan Prometheus in Greek mythology. There are two possible ways of producing natural promethium: rare decay of uranium which produces various isotopes of promethium, and rare decay of europium-151 that produces promethium-147. Hence, uranium is responsible for 560 g of promethium in Earth’s crust. Due to promethium scarce on the Earth the large production of promethium was 650 grams per year in early 1960s in Oak Ridge National Laboratory by bombarding uranium-235 by thermal neutrons, with decay of neodymium-147 to promethium-147 with a short half-life.
Promethium is mostly used only in research
Promethium is used to be specialized in nuclear batteries in a small amount. This type of batteries could provide power for five years
Promethium’s radioactive decay is used to make a phosphor give a light off which is converted to electricity by a solar cell
Promethium is also used a source of X rays and radioactivity in measuring instruments

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