Neptunium facts for kids

Neptunium ions in solution

Neptunium is a chemical element that has the symbol Np on the periodic table. It has the atomic number 93 which means it has 93 protons and electrons in its atoms. It is named after the planet Neptune in the same way as Uranium is named after the planet Uranus. Neptunium was discovered in the year of 1940 by two men named Edwin McMillan and Phillip H. Abelson. Neptunium is a silvery- metallic element and is radio-active. Its melting point is 637 degrees Celsius and it's boiling point is 4000 degrees Celsius.

Images for kids

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  Phase diagram of neptunium

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  Dmitri Mendeleev's table of 1871, with an empty space at the position after uranium

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  Rhenium. For a long time, chemists thought that element 93 would be homologous to rhenium, making the discovery and identification of neptunium nearly impossible.

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  The 60-inch cyclotron at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, in August 1939

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  Neptunium was discovered by Edwin McMillan (pictured) and Philip Abelson in 1940.

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  The planet Neptune, after which neptunium is named

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  Flowchart, showing the Purex process and the likely oxidation state of neptunium in the process solution.

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  Structure of neptunocene

See also

In Spanish: Neptunio para niños