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thoriummore about thorium

thorium


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Thorium  \Tho"ri*um\,  n.  [NL.  See  {Thorite}.]  (Chem.) 
  A  metallic  element  found  in  certain  rare  minerals,  as 
  thorite,  pyrochlore,  monazite,  etc.,  and  isolated  as  an 
  infusible  gray  metallic  powder  which  burns  in  the  air  and 
  forms  thoria;  --  formerly  called  also  {thorinum}.  Symbol  Th 
  Atomic  weight  232.0. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  thorium 
  n  :  a  soft  silvery-white  tetravalent  radioactive  metallic 
  element;  isotope  232  is  used  as  a  power  source  in  nuclear 
  reactors;  occurs  in  thorite  and  in  monazite  sands  [syn:  {Th}, 
  {atomic  number  90}] 
 
  From  Elements  database  20001107  [elements]: 
 
  thorium 
  Symbol:  Th 
  Atomic  number:  90 
  Atomic  weight:  232.038 
  Grey  radioactive  metallic  element.  Belongs  to  actinoids  Found  in  monazite  sand 
  in  Brazil,  India  and  the  US  Thorium-232  has  a  half-life  of  1.39x10^10  years. 
  Can  be  used  as  a  nuclear  fuel  for  breeder  reactors.  Thorium-232  captures  slow 
  {neutron}s  and  breeds  uranium-233.  Discovered  by  Jons  J.  Berzelius  in 
  1829. 
 
 




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