The element plutonium is named after Pluto. There is hardly any plutonium in nature: most of it has decayed into other elements over time. It was discovered during the development of nuclear bombs in World War II. Today, plutonium is mainly used as a nuclear fuel.
Summary of properties (Pu)
| Atomic weight | [244] |
| Discoverer (year) | Seaborg, Glenn T. (1940) |
| Natural form | metallic solid (monoclinic) |
| Electron configuration | [Rn] 5f 6 7s2 |
| Melting point (ºC) | 640 |
| Boiling point (ºC) | 3235 |
| Abundance in earth's crust (ppm) | synthetic |
| Isotope (abundance) | |
| Density g/cm3 | 13.67 |
| Van der Waals radius (pm) | 243 |
| Covalent radius (pm) | 180 |
| Electronegativity (Pauling) | 1.28 |
| Vaporization enthalpy (kJ/mol) | 344.00 |
| Enthalpy of fusion (kJ/mol) | 2.82 |
| Specific heat capacity (J/g·K) at 25ºC and 1 atm | - |
| Thermal conductivity (W/cm·K) at 25ºC and 1 atm | 0.070 |
| Oxidation state | +6, +5, +4, +3 |
| Electron affinity (eV) | |
| 1st Ionization potential (eV) | 6.0260 |
