What is Berkelium atom?

     

Berkelium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with te symbol Bk and atomic number 97.  It is a member of the actinide and transuranium element of the actinide and transuranium element series.  It is named after the city of Berkeley, California, the location of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where it was discovered in December 1949.  Berkelium was the fifth transuranium element discovered after neptunium, plutonium, curium and americium.

     The major isotope of berkelium, 249Bk, is synthesized in minute quantities in dedicated high-flux nuclear reactroes, mainly at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, USA, and at the Research institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, Russia.  The production of the second-most important isotope 247Bk involves the irradiation of the rare isotope 244Cm with high-energy alpha particles.  

Berkelium is a soft, silvery-white, radioactive metal.  The berkelium 249 isotope emits low-energy electrons and thus is relatively safe to handle.  It decays with a half-life of 330 days to californium-249, which is a strong emitter of ionizing alpha particles.  this gradual transformation is an important consideration when studying the properties of elemental berkelium and its chemical compounds, since the formation of californium brings not only chemical contamination, but also free-radical effects and self-heating from the emitted alpha particles.