Chemicals/Thoriums

Thorium sample (99.9 % = 3N) is a thin sheet under argon in a glass ampoule, ca. 0.1 g. Credit: Alchemist-hp.

Thorium is chemical element number 90 in the periodic table.

Radiation

Main article: Radiation

This is a modification of the original image to fix the half-life of Pb-212. Credit: BatesIsBack.

The decay chain on the right depicts that chain for thorium.

Theoretical thorium

Def. "a chemical element (symbol Th) with atomic number 90" is called thorium.

Metals

Main articles: Chemicals/Materials/Metals and Metals

This diagram shows a face-centered cubic lattice. Credit: Daniel Mayer and DrBob.

Thorium is a silvery, radioactive, metallic element. At room temperature and pressure, thorium crystallizes into a face-centered cubic lattice, where one thorium atom occupies each location of a black sphere in the diagram on the left.

Isotopes

nuclide symbol	historic name	Z(p)	N(n)	isotopic mass (u)	half-life	decay mode(s)	daughter isotope(s)	nuclear spin	representative isotopic composition (mole fraction)	range of natural variation (mole fraction)
		excitation energy
209Th		90	119	209.01772(11)	7(5) ms [3.8(+69-15)]			5/2-#
210Th		90	120	210.015075(27)	17(11) ms [9(+17-4) ms]	α	206Ra	0+
						β+ (rare)	210Ac
211Th		90	121	211.01493(8)	48(20) ms [0.04(+3-1) s]	α	207Ra	5/2-#
						β+ (rare)	211Ac
212Th		90	122	212.01298(2)	36(15) ms [30(+20-10) ms]	α (99.7%)	208Ra	0+
						β+ (.3%)	212Ac
213Th		90	123	213.01301(8)	140(25) ms	α	209Ra	5/2-#
						β+ (rare)	213Ac
214Th		90	124	214.011500(18)	100(25) ms	α	210Ra	0+
215Th		90	125	215.011730(29)	1.2(2) s	α	211Ra	(1/2-)
216Th		90	126	216.011062(14)	26.8(3) ms	α (99.99%)	212Ra	0+
						β+ (.006%)	216Ac
216m1Th		2042(13) keV			137(4) µs			(8+)
216m2Th		2637(20) keV			615(55) ns			(11-)
217Th		90	127	217.013114(22)	240(5) µs	α	213Ra	(9/2+)
218Th		90	128	218.013284(14)	109(13) ns	α	214Ra	0+
219Th		90	129	219.01554(5)	1.05(3) µs	α	215Ra	9/2+#
						β+ (10−7%)	219Ac
220Th		90	130	220.015748(24)	9.7(6) µs	α	216Ra	0+
						EC (2×10−7%)	220Ac
221Th		90	131	221.018184(10)	1.73(3) ms	α	217Ra	(7/2+)
222Th		90	132	222.018468(13)	2.237(13) ms	α	218Ra	0+
						EC (1.3×10−8%)	222Ac
223Th		90	133	223.020811(10)	0.60(2) s	α	219Ra	(5/2)+
224Th		90	134	224.021467(12)	1.05(2) s	α	220Ra	0+
						β+β+ (rare)	224Ra
225Th		90	135	225.023951(5)	8.72(4) min	α (90%)	221Ra	(3/2)+
						EC (10%)	225Ac
226Th		90	136	226.024903(5)	30.57(10) min	α	222Ra	0+
227Th	Radioactinium	90	137	227.0277041(27)	18.68(9) d	α	223Ra	1/2+	Trace
228Th	Radiothorium	90	138	228.0287411(24)	1.9116(16) a	α	224Ra	0+	Trace
						CD (1.3×10−11%)	208Pb 20O
229Th		90	139	229.031762(3)	7.34(16)×103 a	α	225Ra	5/2+
229mTh		0.0076(5) keV			70(50) h	IT	229Th	3/2+
230Th	Ionium	90	140	230.0331338(19)	7.538(30)×104 a	α	226Ra	0+	Trace
						CD (5.6×10−11%)	206Hg 24Ne
						SF (5×10−11%)	(Various)
231Th	Uranium Y	90	141	231.0363043(19)	25.52(1) h	β−	231Pa	5/2+	Trace
						α (10−8%)	227Ra
232Th	Thorium	90	142	232.0380553(21)	1.405(6)×1010 a	α	228Ra	0+	1.0000
						β−β− (rare)	232U
						SF (1.1×10−9%)	(various)
						CD (2.78×10−10%)	182Yb 26Ne 24Ne
233Th		90	143	233.0415818(21)	21.83(4) min	β−	233Pa	1/2+
234Th	Uranium X1	90	144	234.043601(4)	24.10(3) d	β−	234mPa	0+	Trace
235Th		90	145	235.04751(5)	7.2(1) min	β−	235Pa	(1/2+)#
236Th		90	146	236.04987(21)#	37.5(2) min	β−	236Pa	0+
237Th		90	147	237.05389(39)#	4.8(5) min	β−	237Pa	5/2+#
238Th		90	148	238.0565(3)#	9.4(20) min	β−	238Pa	0+

Hypotheses

Main article: Hypotheses

1. Thorium can be fissioned and fusioned.

See also: Control groups, Proof of concept, and Proof of technology

See also

• Nuclear power/Thorium

External links

{{Chemistry resources}}

Type classification: this is an article resource.