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Lanthanides & Actinides
Actinide Metals
Preparation

General method for all Actinides:

Reduction of AnF3 or AnF4 with vapours of Li, Mg, Ca or Ba at 1100 - 1400ƒC

Highly Electropositive

Typically react with:

  • air tarnishing
  • boiling water or dilute acid releasing Hydrogen
  • most non-metals in direct combination
Structures

Very dense metals (e.g. U 19 gcm-3) with distinctive structures

e.g. Plutonium has at least 6 allotropes and forms numerous alloys

Plutoniumabgde
Symmetrymonoclinicmonoclinicorthorhombicfccbc tetragonalbcc
Stability< 122ƒC122-207ƒC207-315ƒC315-457ƒC457-479ƒC479-640ƒC
r / gcm-319.8617.7017.1415.9216.0016.51

--Info & DownloadsBibliography  [textbook & online resources]

Source: Dr. S.J. Heyes; University of Oxford
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