Curium

silvery white, hard brittle metal; chemistry of trivalent state similar to that of trivalent lanthanides; α-emitter; hexagonal, a=0.3496nm, c=1.1331 nm; enthalpy of vaporization 1340 kJ/mol; ionic radius of Cm+++ is 0.0970nm; discovered in 1944; used in generating thermoelectric power for remote locations and in space; β-Cm is fcc, which is stable at <1340°C [HAW93] [MER06] [KIR78]

Curium atom is an actinoid atom and a f-block element atom.|A radioactive actinide with atomic symbol Cm, and atomic number 96. Thirteen curium isotopes have been produced with mass numbers ranging from 238-250. Its valence can be +3 or +4. It is intensely radioactive and decays by alpha-emission.

242Cm and 244Cm as power sources in radionuclide batteries for space and medical applications. 242Cm as radioactive heat source. 248Cm in accelerator studies to form superheavy elements. There are no major commercial uses for curium because of the extremely small amountproduced. In the future, the most important use of curium may be to provide the power forsmall, compact thermoelectric sources of electricity, by generating heat through the nucleardecay of radioisotope curium-241. These small, efficient power sources can be used in individualhomes or remote regions to provide electricity to areas that cannot secure it from othersources. It could also be used as a source of electricity in spacecraft. However, today curium’smain use is for basic scientific laboratory research.

Molecular Weight:247.07035
Exact Mass:247.07035
Monoisotopic Mass:247.07035
Heavy Atom Count:1
Covalently-Bonded Unit Count:1
Compound Is Canonicalized:Yes