Berkelium
⚛️ In Your World
Berkelium is a synthetic radioactive element that is so rare and difficult to produce that it has no practical applications outside of scientific research. Only milligram quantities of berkelium have ever been produced. Its primary use is as a target material in particle accelerators to synthesize even heavier, undiscovered elements.
📖 The Discovery Story
Berkelium was first synthesized in December 1949 by a team of scientists led by Glenn T. Seaborg at the University of California, Berkeley. They produced it by bombarding a tiny amount of americium-241 with alpha particles in a cyclotron. Following the naming convention of other actinides, the element was named "berkelium" in honor of the city of Berkeley, where it was discovered, just as its lanthanide analog, terbium, was named after the village of Ytterby.
📊 Properties at a Glance
| Phase at STP | Solid (presumed) |
| Melting Point | 986 °C / 1807 °F |
| Boiling Point | 2627 °C / 4760 °F (estimated) |
| Electron Configuration | [Rn] 5f⁹7s² |
| Abundance in Earth's Crust | Essentially zero |
⚠️ Safety & Handling
Berkelium is intensely radioactive and extremely hazardous. The radiation it emits can cause severe damage to living tissue and bone, where it tends to accumulate. It has only ever been produced in microscopic amounts and must be handled with highly specialized remote equipment in a dedicated hot cell.