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What
the name means:
Protactinium was given its name because the
first sample obtained from the nuclear
fission of uranium had a very short half
life, decaying into the element actinium.
Who
identified
protactinium? The
element was first observed in 1913 by
Kasimir Fajans and Otto H. Göhring in
Karlsruhe,
Germany. They had studied the products of
uranium decay and found an element that had
a very short half-life. They named this
element brevium (because of the brevity of
its existence).
In 1918, two other groups of researchers,
Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn in Germany and
Frederick Soddy
and
John Cranston
in the UK, produced a longer lasting
isotope of the element. The German team
named protoactinium because it decayed to
actinium. This name was shortened to
protactinium in 1949.
About
protactinium:
Protactinium is a radio active element that
occurs naturally in trace amounts in
uranium ores. It is produced by the radio
active decay of uranium, thorium and
plutonium. In 1961 about 54,5 tonnes of
radio active waste was processed in the UK.
It provided 125 grammes of protactinium at
a cost of half a million dollars! |
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