Actinide Series Rare earth metals

Actinide Series

• Rare earth metals

Th Thorium

• Subcritical nuclear fuel

• Gas lantern mantles

Pa Protactinium

U Uranium

• Found in ore Pitchblende

• Ceramic glaze

• Nuclear fuel

• Nuclear weapons

• Depleted uranium for armor and armor piercing shells

Np Neptunium

Pu Plutonium

• A bomb core

• Spacecraft propulsion

• Not particularly toxic unless ingested or inhaled

Am Americium

• Smoke detectors

Cm Curium

• Named after Marie and Pierre Curie

Bk Berkelium

• Named after Berkeley, California

Cf Californium

• Named after California

Es Einsteinium

• Named after Norman Einstein

Fm Fermium

• Named after Enrico Fermi

Md Mendelevium

• Named after Dmitri Mendeleev

No Nobelium

• Named after Alfred Nobel

Lr Lawrencium

• Named after Ernest Orlando Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron