Welcome to the wild world of Uranium. Did you know that Uranium is the heaviest, naturally occurring element? The element name Uranium was named after the planet Uranus. The planet had just been discovered at nearly the same time that Uranium was discovered back in 1789. The symbol of Uranium is U, it has an atomic number of 92 and has an atomic mass of 238.0289. Uranium is found in the group called the Actinides. The Actinides are all radioactive elements and have a high atomic number.
http://periodictable.com/Elements/092/index.html
The element Uranium has an electron configuration of [Rn] 5f36d17s2. The letters mean what sub-level type the atom has. The numbers before each letter state which energy level the sub-level is in and then each number after the letters is how many electrons are in that sub-level. Uranium has 6 valence electrons.
There are some pretty awesome facts concerning Uranium. Uranium is radioactive like all other Actinides and is a silvery-gray color. It is a useful element because if you split the atoms, it causes a huge chain reaction that releases lots of energy. Did you know that it is a solid at room temperature? It has a melting point of 2,070 F and a boiling point of 4,725 F. Uranium is very dense, about 19 grams per cubic centimeter. It is 1.6 times more dense than Lead. Martin Heinrich Klaproth, a German chemist discovered Uranium in 1789. He also discovered Zirconium and Cerium.
One very strange fact is that it is perfectly legal for anyone to own up to 15 pounds of Uranium but you are not allowed to do anything with it other than own it as a collection item. The first atomic weapon ever used was a Uranium fission bomb that was detonated over the city of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Uranium can be used as a fuel to create power through fission. Fission creates heat, which then heats up water, creates steam and then drives a turbine with the steam. There are currently 439 Nuclear reactors around the world. Despite the fact that Uranium is a very useful element, there are some negative things about it. One bad thing, is that when it is used in a power plant and depleted, it takes 20,000 years for it to become safe, but is still slightly radioactive. Uranium is the only element that can be used in a nuclear power plant for fuel. In order to produce a nuclear weapon or use it as a fuel source, you must use Uranium 235.
http://www.niton.com/docs/literature/infographic_uranium.pdf?sfvrsn=2
