Californium [Cf] (CAS-ID: 7440-71-3) locate me
An: 98 N: 153 Am: [251]
Group Name: Actinoid
Block: f-block Period: 7 (actinoid)
State: solid at 298 K
Colour: unknown, but probably metallic and silvery white or grey in appearance Classification: Metallic
Boiling Point: unknown (?)
Melting Point: 1173K (900'C)
Density: unknown
Shell Structure diagrams | Atomic Radius diagram
Isotopes

Discovery Information
Who: G.T.Seaborg , S.G.Tompson, A. Ghiorso , K.Street Jr.
When: 1950
Where: United States
Name Origin
After the state and University of California.
Sources
Made by bombarding curium with helium ions .
Uses
Californium is available only in very small quanities so its uses are limited, however, it is used in nuclear research as a source of fission fragments. It is also useful as a neutron source for activation analysis to detect gold or silver. It can also be used in moisture gauges in oil wells.
Notes
252Cf (2.6 year half-life ) is a very strong neutron emitter and is thus extremely radioactive and harmful (one microgram spontaneously emits 170 million neutrons per minute). The decay of 254Cf (55-day half-life ) may have been detected through telescopes in supernovae remnants. 249Cf is formed from the beta decay of 249Bk and most other californium isotopes are made by subjecting berkelium to intense neutron radiation in a nuclear reactor.