Neutrons Find 'Missing' Magnetism Of Plutonium
Sunday, July 19, 2015 - 16:10
in Physics & Chemistry
New research has confirmed plutonium's magnetism, which scientists have long theorized but have never been able to experimentally observe. Plutonium was first produced in 1940 and its unstable nucleus allows it to undergo fission, making it useful for nuclear fuels as well as for nuclear weapons. Much less known, however, is that the electronic cloud surrounding the plutonium nucleus is equally unstable and makes plutonium the most electronically complex element in the periodic table, with intriguingly intricate properties for a simple elemental metal. read more