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Periodic Table
This is a picture of the electron configuration.
This is a bar of  Uranium.
Elemental Facts: 
Symbol
  U
Atomic Number
  92
Atomic Mass
  238.0289 AMU
Electron Configuration
 .2,8,18,32,21,9,2
Valence Number  2
Melting Point 1405.3 °K, 1132 °C,
2070 °F
Boiling Point  4200 °K, 3818 °C, 7101 °F
Family
  3
Series
  7
Element Classification
  RARE EARTH METALS
Density
  18.95
Crystal Structure  ORTHORHOMBIC
State of Matter
  SOLID
Date of Discovery
  1798
Person Who Discovered  MARTIN H. KLAPROTH
Historical Facts and Elements Uses:
Uranium is a silvery-white radio active metal. a chunk of uranium the size of a softball can release more energy than a trainload of coal  that weighs three million times as much.  It was named after the planet Uranus and was discoverd in 1789 in a sample of mineral pitchblende.  The property of radioactivity was not discovered until 1896.  It is used for fuel for nuclear reactors.
Uranium is widely distributed in the earth's crust.  Its most important ore being uraninite, an oxide of variable composition approximating UO2.  Pitchblende is one form of uraninite, of composition U3O8.  There are several uranium-producing mines in Canada located in Elliot Lake, Espanola and Bancroft regions of Ontario and Beaverlodge in Northern Saskatchewan.  Other important deposits occur in Australia, U.S.A. and Africa. 
The concentration of uranium found in the ore is only 0.1 to 0.2%. This is concentrated to 60 to 70% at the mine by a leaching process followed by ion exchange or solvent extraction. It is refined in the Port Hope, Ontario facility of Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. into fuels for nuclear reactors or uranium metal for radiation shielding and other  applications.  Uranium has become an extremely important element, mainly because of its potential to provide nuclear energy.  The principal isotope, uranium-238, comprises 99.28% of the metal but is not subject to fission.  Uranium-235, present to only 0.7%, is the only isotope of uranium that can be split by neutron bombardment to yield nuclear energy.
Separation of the very small amount of uranium-235 from the nonfissionable uranium-238 was one of the biggest achievements of the Manhattan Project (1941) which developed the original "atomic" bomb. The energy yield per atom of 235 is about 200 million electron volt, plus two to three neutrons, which in turn initiate new fissions. 

 
Bibliography:
World Book  Millenium 2000. 2000: vol. 20 214-216, 12-13-01 
WWW.google.com, 12-13-01

 
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Created By:
 Michelle and Haylee
Last Updated:
 12/13/01