plutonium (Pu)

Term: plutonium (Pu)

Literally meaning: “pertainingto planet Pluto”

Origin:

Πλούτωνας/Plutonas(=Pluto was the god of underworld, son of Cronus and Rea and brother of Zeus. The earlier word of god was Hades/Άδης)

>πλούτος/plutos(=wealth, riches)  The name of god is associated with mineral wealth that is found underground and bountiful harvest because of seeds from deep earth.

  Plutonium was named after the planet Pluto as in conformity with other planet names.   Pluto planet  is the second most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System.  Its name was given by Venetia Burney (1918-2009) an eleven-year-old girl in England thinking that the name for the god of underworld is appropriate for a the presumably dark and cold world of the planet. The planet was discovered by C.W Tombaugh in 1930.

Coined/History

Plutonium was first synthesized by nuclear chemist Glenn T Seaborg, Joseph W Kennedy, Arthur C Wahl  and Edwin McMillan in 1941 by bombarding uranium-238 with deuterons. Because of military  secrecy they announced it in 1948. The second atomic bomb used to destroy  Nagasaki in 1945 had cores of plutonium-239. 

Definition

Plutonium is a silvery-gray radioactive chemical element with atomic number 94 and atomic mass 244.  The most important uranium isotope is Pu-239 which has a half-life of more 20000 years. Plutonium-239, which can undergo nuclear chain reactions, is used in nuclear bombs and nuclear reactors.