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Neptunium facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Np ox st
Neptunium ions in solution

Neptunium is a chemical element that has the symbol Np on the periodic table. It has the atomic number 93 which means it has 93 protons and electrons in its atoms. It is named after the planet Neptune in the same way as Uranium is named after the planet Uranus. Neptunium was discovered in the year of 1940 by two men named Edwin McMillan and Phillip H. Abelson. Neptunium is a silvery- metallic element and is radio-active. Its melting point is 637 degrees Celsius and it's boiling point is 4000 degrees Celsius.

Images for kids

  • Phase diagram of neptunium (1975)

    Phase diagram of neptunium

  • a table with a typical cell containing a two-letter symbol and a number

    Mendeleev's table of 1871, with an empty space at the position after uranium

  • Rhenium single crystal bar and 1cm3 cube

    Rhenium. For a long time, chemists thought that element 93 would be homologous to rhenium, making the discovery and identification of neptunium nearly impossible.

  • Black-and-white picture of heavy machinery with two operators sitting aside

    The 60-inch cyclotron at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, in August 1939

  • Neptune Full

    The planet Neptune, which neptunium is named after

  • Neptunium Purex process

    Flowchart, showing the Purex process and the likely oxidation state of neptunium in the process solution.

  • Neptunocene-from-xtal-3D-balls

    Structure of neptunocene

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