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Einsteinium

  • Chapter
The Chemistry of the Actinide Elements

Abstract

Einsteinium (chemical symbol Es) was discovered unexpectedly together with fermium in a test of the first thermonuclear bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in 1952. Very large numbers of neutrons created from fusion reactions in the fuel were captured by large quantities of 238U surrounding the Mike device. In an exceedingly brief instant, as many as 17 neutrons were captured successively by a fraction of the 238U nuclei to yield very neutron-rich uranium isotopes. The rapid beta decay of these massive uranium nuclides produced intermediate isotopes of Np, Pu, Am, Bk, Cf, and Es which continued to beta decay until β -stable masses of all these elements and Fm were reached. From debris collected by aircraft sampling of the mushroom cloud, nuclear chemists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and the Argonne National Laboratory identified the new elements Es and Fm as well as many new isotopes of Pu, Am, Cm, and Cf [1]. This first discovery was largely based on the identification of 20 day 253Es, which is also the major einsteinium isotope now produced in nuclear reactors. Naming of the element after Albert Einstein was considered an appropriate tribute to this great physicist.

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Authors
  1. E. K. Hulet
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Division, Argonne National Laboratory, USA

    Joseph J. Katz  & Lester R. Morss  & 

  2. Chemistry Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, USA

    Glenn T. Seaborg

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© 1986 Chapman and Hall Ltd

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Hulet, E.K. (1986). Einsteinium. In: Katz, J.J., Seaborg, G.T., Morss, L.R. (eds) The Chemistry of the Actinide Elements. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3155-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3155-8_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7918-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3155-8

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