Skip to main content

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

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Titanium Carbide Powders and Applications

Titanium carbide which has the chemical formula of TiC attracted great interest for many structural applications due to its extremely high melting temperature, high hardness, high chemical resistance and good electrical conductivity. Therefore titanium carbide can be used in cutting tools, grinding wheels, wear-resistant coatings, high temperature heat exchangers, magnetic recording heads, turbine engine seals, and bullet-proof vests, etc. In addition, a promising field of application comprises plasma and flame spraying processes in air, where titanium carbide-based powders show high-phase stability. TiC(Titanium Carbide Powder) (325 mesh, 99,9+%)  can also be used in biomedical implant devices. Materials used for biomedical implant devices must satisfy a variety of property demands, which are often mutually exclusive. Further, different parts of a device demand different material properties. These factors often make it difficult to manufacture a medical device using a...
Post a Comment
Read more

New Way of Deaf-Mute Communication with 3D Graphene

Image retrieved from: http://blogs.rsc.org/cc/2016/09/01/3d-graphene-adds-dimension-to-deaf%E2%80%93mute-communication/ Chinese scientists have developed wearable electronic device with conductive 3D graphene structure to translate sign language into written text. This technology can be applied by injecting graphene ink from a syringe under printed electronic field. For medical field, such as adhesive patches which determine heart, brain signal and neural activity, wearable and bio-integrated medical devices are very important. Due to noticeable properties of cast graphene, for example a 2D honeycomb lattice, excellent mechanical and electrical behaviors, Graphene has an important material in warble technology. However, it is difficult to preserve advantages of Graphene material in a 3D material which has an information about forces from every angle. Yanlin Song  and co-workers at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, and Shenyang Jianzhu University...
Post a Comment
Read more

Carbon Nanotubes Doped with Graphene Nanopowder and Applications

Carbon nanotubes and graphene are different forms of carbon atom based materials. They have different properties and can be used in various applications. But what happens if we use them as a hybrid structure? The excellent mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of low-dimensional carbon materials like graphene and carbon nanotube have enabled them as promising building blocks for three-dimensional nanoarchitectures. In this regard, extensive interests have been attracted to synthesize graphene and carbon nanotube hybrid structures. Earlier works suggested that  Carbon Nanotubes Doped with Graphene Nanopowder (52 wt% Graphene )  is a promising solution for quick energy dissipation, which could enhance interface thermal conductivity of the ‘building blocks’ for future nanoscale mechanical and electrical devices. In the electricity perspective, it is found that ‘CNT pillared-graphene’ system would extend the excellent electrical conductivity of graphene and nanotube to ...
Post a Comment
Read more