96
Curium
Atomic Number96
Atomic Mass247 u
CategoryActinide
State at Room TempSolid
Year Discovered1944
About Curium
Named for Pierre and Marie Curie, honoring the study of radioactivity. So intensely radioactive that curium compounds glow in the dark and a sample warms itself. Curium-244 powers the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometers that analyzed rocks for the Mars rovers. Made in gram quantities in special reactors, it also fuelled early spacecraft power sources.
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