Curium (Cm)
"The Nuclear Maverick, Curium unleashes potent alpha particles to probe the unknown, a small but mighty force for scientific discovery!"
A memorable persona to anchor Cm in your mind.
13.51
Grams per cm³
1345
Celsius (°C)
245
Radius (pm)
Daily Life Link
Like the super-scanner in your favorite sci-fi gadget, revealing hidden details on other worlds.
Discovery & History
Year Discovered
1944
Discovered By
Glenn Seaborg and colleagues
Origin of Name
"Curium is named in honour of Pierre and Marie Curie."
Technical Properties
Atomic Mass
[247] u
Standard State
solid
Boiling Point
N/A
Electron Configuration
[Rn] 5f76d17s2
1st Ionization Energy
6.02 eV
Electron Affinity
N/A
Oxidation States
"A shiny, silvery metal, but don't touch – it's too hot (and radioactive!) to handle!"
Did You Know?
It’s a tribute! Curium gets its name from the legendary scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, the rockstars of radioactivity research.
Don't go digging for it! Curium is a synthetic element, meaning scientists create it in labs – it doesn't just hang out naturally in Earth's crust.
Making it is a cosmic billiard game! Scientists craft Curium by smashing plutonium atoms with alpha particles – talk about atomic alchemy!
Radioactive Powerhouse! Curium is incredibly radioactive, mostly blasting out powerful alpha particles which are heavy-duty atomic projectiles.