promethium

promethium (Pm), chemical element, the only rare-earth metal of the lanthanide series of the periodic table not found in nature on Earth.

Conclusive chemical proof of the existence of promethium, the last of the rare-earth elements to be discovered, was obtained in 1945 (but not announced until 1947) by American chemists Jacob A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin, and Charles D. Coryell, who isolated the radioactive isotopes promethium-147 (2.62-year half-life) and promethium-149 (53-hour half-life) from uranium fission products at Clinton Laboratories (now Oak Ridge National Laboratory) in Tennessee. Identification was firmly established by ion-exchange chromatography. (Earlier investigators thought that they had found the element with atomic number 61 in naturally occurring rare earths and had prematurely called it illinium and florentium.)

Promethium-147 is effectively separated from the other rare-earth fission products by an ion-exchange method. Promethium has also been prepared by slow neutron bombardment of the isotope neodymium-146; the resulting isotope, neodymium-147, decays by electron emission to promethium-147. The metal itself was first prepared in 1963 by reduction of the fluoride, PmF₃, with lithium. Two allotropic (structural) modifications of promethium are known: the α-phase is double close-packed hexagonal with a = 3.65 Å and c = 11.65 Å at room temperature. The β-phase is body-centred cubic with a = 4.10 Å (estimated) at 890 °C (1,634 °F).

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All the isotopes of promethium are unstable; the longest-lived is promethium-145 (17.7-year half-life). Excluding nuclear isomers, a total of 38 radioactive isotopes of promethium are known. They range in mass from 126 to 163. The least stable isotope, promethium-128, has a half-life of one second. Because of the short half-lives of its isotopes, any promethium that might result from spontaneous fission of uranium in uranium ores would occur in infinitesimal concentrations.

The known uses of promethium are due to its radioactivity. Its soft beta-particle radiation can be converted to electricity in miniature batteries formed by sandwiching promethium between wafers of a semiconductor such as silicon; those batteries operate in extreme temperatures for up to five years. Other uses are as beta-radiation sources—e.g., in light sources that use phosphors to absorb beta radiation and convert it to visible light.

The physical and chemical properties of promethium are those of a typical rare earth. It is trivalent in its compounds and solutions, most of which are pink or rose.