Thorium Facts for Kids

Thorium is a special chemical element that is a shiny, silvery-white metal. It's a bit radioactive, which means it gives off tiny bits of energy. You can find it on the Periodic table of elements. Its chemical symbol is Th, and its atomic number is 90.

Thorium gets its name from Thor, the powerful Norse god of thunder. This element is found naturally in the ground, especially in countries like India, the United States, and Australia.

Many scientists think thorium could be a great source of nuclear energy for the future. Here's why:

It creates much less waste than other nuclear fuels.
It's about four times more common than uranium, another nuclear fuel.
It can produce a huge amount of energy! Just a little bit of thorium can make 3,200,000 times more energy than coal and 200 times more energy than natural uranium.
Scientists believe there's enough thorium on Earth to power the world for thousands of years.

Alkaline earth metals

Poor metals

Other nonmetals

Images for kids

Thorium dioxide has a crystal structure like fluorite.
The crystal structure of thorium tetrafluoride.
A sandwich-like molecule structure of thorocene.
Thor's Fight with the Giants (1872) by Mårten Eskil Winge. Thor, the Norse god of thunder, raises his hammer Mjölnir in battle.
Jöns Jacob Berzelius, the scientist who first found thorium.
A gas mantle from World War II made with thorium dioxide.
Glenn T. Seaborg, who helped place thorium correctly on the periodic table.
The Indian Point Energy Center in New York, where the world's first thorium reactor was located.
A thorium dioxide camera lens that has turned yellow (left), one partially fixed (center), and a clear one (right).
An experiment showing how radiation from a thorium gas mantle affects the growth of timothy-grass seeds.

Thorium facts for kids

Images for kids

See also