When you purchase through link on our web site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
list for the Norse god of thunder , thorium is a silvery , lustrous and radioactive chemical element with potential as an alternative to U in fueling nuclear reactor .
Just the facts
History
In 1815 , Jöns Jakob Berzelius , a Swedish chemist , first thought he had discovered a new Earth element , which he named thorium after Thor , the Norse graven image of warfare , according toPeter van der Krogt , a Dutch historian . In 1824 , however , it was determined that the mineral was in factyttriumphosphate . ;
In 1828 , Berzelius received a sample of a black mineral found on Løvø Island off the sea-coast of Norway by Hans Morten Thrane Esmark , a Norse mineralogist . The mineral check about 60 percent of an unknown ingredient , which took over the name thorium ; the mineral was named thorite . The mineral also contained many known elements , including iron , manganese , principal , tin , and uranium , according toChemicool .
Jons Jakob Berzelius insulate thorium by first mixing thorium oxide find in the mineral with carbon to make Th chloride , which was then reacted with K to yield atomic number 90 and potassium chloride , according toChemicool .
Thor’s Battle Against the Jötnar (1872) by Mårten Eskil Winge
Gerhard Schmidt , a German chemist , and Marie Curie , a Polish physicist , severally give away that thorium was radioactive in 1898 within a distich calendar month of each other , according toChemicool . Schmidt is often credit with the discovery .
Ernest Rutherford , a New Zealand physicist , and Frederick Soddy , an English pill pusher , discovered that thorium decays at a fixed pace into other elements , also known as the half - sprightliness of an element , consort toLos Alamos National Laboratory . This work was critical in furthering the understanding of other radioactive chemical element .
Anton Eduard van Arkel and Jan Handrik de Boer , both Dutch pill pusher , set apart high purity metalic Th in 1925 , according to Los Alamos National Laboratory .
Atomic information and electron configuration of thorium
Who knew?
Current research
A bully hand of research is going into using Th as a nuclear fuel . accord to an article from theRoyal Society of Chemistry , thorium used in atomic nuclear reactor cater many benefits over using U :
According to a 2009paperbyNASAresearchers Albert J. Juhasz , Richard A. Rarick , and Rajmohan Rangarajan , thorium reactor were originate at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the fifties under the direction of Alvin Weinberg for support nuclear aircraft programs . The program stopped in 1961 in favour of other technology . According to the Royal Society of Chemistry , Th reactors were abandoned because they did not make as much plutonium as uranium - powered reactors . At that time , weapons - course Pu , as well as U , was a hot commodity due to the Cold War .
Thorium itself is not used for atomic fuel , but it is used to make the unreal atomic number 92 isotope uranium-233 , according to the NASA report . Thorium-232 first absorbs a neutron , create thorium-233 , which disintegrate to protactium-233 over the line of about four minute . Protactium-233 slowly decays to uranium-233 over the form of about ten month . Uranium-233 is then used in atomic reactor as fuel .
Additional resource
