A Visual Encyclopedia of the Periodic Table

125

Actinides

Californium

Cf

98

Einsteinium

Es

99

Only a

few

milligrams

of einsteinium are

made every

year.

This machine uses

californium to find

water underground.

Water detector

Pellets of

radioactive californium

Albert Einstein in his study

Einsteinium was discovered in the chemicals

left over after the first hydrogen bomb test

in 1952. The huge explosion fused smaller

atoms together to make larger ones, including

einsteinium. This element was named after the

great German-born scientist Albert Einstein, and

was found to be a silvery, radioactive metal that

glows blue in the dark. It is only used for making

heavier elements, such as mendelevium.

Californium is named after the US state of

California. This soft, silvery metal does not exist

in nature and is made by smashing berkelium atoms

with neutrons in a particle accelerator (a machine in

which atoms are smashed together). This radioactive

element is used in the treatment of cancer.

State: Solid

Discovery: 1950

98 98 153

State: Solid

Discovery: 1952

99 99 153

This isotope,

or form, of

californium

produces a lot

of neutrons.

124-125_Curium_Berkelium_Californium_Einsteinium.indd 125 02/12/16 10:00 pm