Uranium
From Conservapedia
| Uranium | |
|---|---|
| Name | Uranium |
| Symbol | U |
| Atomic number | 92 |
| Atomic mass | 238.02891 amu |
| Normal state | Solid |
| Classification | Metallic |
| Crystal structure | Orthorhombic |
| Color | metallic grey, reacts slowly with oxygen and rapidly with water. |
| Date of discovery | 1789 |
| Name of discoverer | Martin J. Klaproth |
| Name origin | From the planet Uranus. |
| Uses | For many centuries it was used as a pigment for glass. Now it is used as a fuel in nuclear reactors and in nuclear weapons. Depleted Uranium is used in casings of armor piercing arterial shells, armor plating on tanks and as ballast in the wings of some large aircraft. |
| Obtained from | Primary uranium bearing ores are uraninite, autunite, carnotite, samarskite and torbernite. |
Uranium (U) is a heavy, naturally radioactive, metallic element with an atomic number of 92. Its two principally occurring isotopes are uranium-235 and uranium-238. Uranium-235 is indispensable to the nuclear industry because it is the only isotope existing in nature, that is fissionable by thermal neutrons. Uranium-238 is also important because it absorbs neutrons to produce a radioactive isotope that subsequently decays to the isotope plutonium-239, which also is fissionable by thermal neutrons.
"Depleted" Uranium is one of the densest materials known to man; As such, the United States of America uses it for bullets and tank armor. There are no known serious health risks stemming from external exposure to it.[1][2]
