Does Plutonium actually glow (like in cartoons)?

[Exarch]

and given that it's created artificially from uranium, would it be possible to find it occurring naturally in the universe?

[Chaigidel]

no it does not glow, it is a metal

and there is a natural reaction going on in the core ( at least some evidence points to this --- so possibly in the earths core? im not entirely certain tho, whether it would ever actually become plutonium.

[roy34543]

Theres possibly a gas around it that glows.


Plutonium itself though. I dont think so.

[Exarch]

ah so plutonium gas itslef glows then?
what makes it glow? i want detailed specifics on the chemistry of it!!

[roy34543]

Im not very sure. I know radon is usually found around it but its not very green. I think there might be a gas but im not sure.
Edit: might be something about its oxidization, checking it now.

[Exarch]

thnks for ur help roy
would rep u if i could

[boofhead]

Found this somewhere or other

Generally, no, plutonium will not glow. Plutonium, element 94, is a radioactive and toxic metal of the trans-uranium group. And it is fissile. There are a few factors we need to consider before we close this question, but the general answer is no, it does not glow by itself. It is not photoluminescent, neither phosphorescent or luminescent. And let's be clear about "normally" here. If a dime-sized piece of refined plutonium was sitting in a tray in the physics lab and all the lights were out, it would not be visible. Without beating this one up, let's look at the other things we know about this most dangerous element as related to its giving off light, and let's set aside the isotopic considerations to keep it simple.

Plutonium will spontaneously fission if a critical mass is brought together. This would cause it to emit visible light (and a whole bunch of other electromagnetic energy and radioactive particles). If you took two pieces the size of, say, cubes of butter and slammed them together (and this is so terrible that it is unthinkable), there would be a big flash of light and the two pieces would force themselves away from each other. There's your light. Oh, and you'd die within the month of radiation sickness (or, if you prefer, radiation poisoning). Our dime-sized piece is not big enough to reach critical mass.

Another property associated with plutonium is that if we put together a subcritical mass of it, but a sufficient amount, it will, because of its radioactive nature, begin to glow and emit black body radiation. It is radioactively decaying and giving off heat in the process, and light will be emitted if the quantity of sufficient. This property of plutonium makes it useful as a long-term power source in a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. A sufficiently large quantiy, like a pellet, of plutonium (but below a critical mass of it) will glow red hot due purely to radioactive decay within the pellet. Our dime-sized piece is not big enough to be observed glowing in optical wavelengths.

Lastly, powdered plutonium is pyrophoric. It will react with air and burn "by itself" and emit light. Powdered (finely divided) plutonium must be kept in an inert gas atmosphere. Our dime-sized piece is a solid chunk of the metal, and it will not generally be subject to pyrophoricity like this.

A bit confusing. He says 'No it doesn't glow' and then later 'it will glow'. But I think that's the radiation, not the metal.

[roy34543]

Scratch that again, I was wrong . Dunno really. Radon does apparantly glow at extremely low temperatures but im really confused now.
Now im not. Read this http://depletedcranium.com/?p=562

[Banned]

It can glow because it's a pyrophoric substance, it has the ability to ignite spontaneously. Its autoignition temperature is below the normal room temperature so it can emit both heat and light when kept under certain conditions. However, its natural form has a silvery appearance.

[Exarch]

so can it glow without being ignited? and what kinda conditions did u mention?

[chris_uk_83]

Radioactive materials have a tendency to get hot. When uranium was first discovered the researchers were really impressed that when you brought two fist sized lumps of it together it got quite hot. This is simply caused by the radioactive particles released by one atom of uranium smashing into another one; the more smashing you get the more heat is generated.

As you probably already know, hot things tend to glow (if you get them hot enough). Red at lower temperatures, blue and eventually white at really hot ones. What the quote is trying to get at is the fact that plutonium can do this.

He also mentions pyrophoric. Which means that it can ignite and burn, which I wouldn't say was a glow, more of an intense deadly (due to the radiotoxicity of plutonium) fire.

[Adar]

I am going to answer your 2nd question but I just can't avoid to try answering the thread topic too. Please note that Chris among other things explain how plutonium acts as it's own heat source. I skipped this part and just tried to focus on the Simpson style "funky green light" of visualised for radoactive materials.

If I gave you a rod of Plutonium would it act just like if I gave you any other kind of metal rod (until you get radiation sickness). This means that it will reflect sunlight, get red when heated etc. The funky thing with plutonium is that it is radioactive. Radiation is essentially plutoniums way of giving off energy when it collapses into uranium-235. Some materials can absorb this energy and then release this energy in the form of visible light. This is the same way a lamp affects a glow in the dark toy. The plutonium/lamp gives off energy which is absorbed by the toy/substance. The toy/substance then releases it energy (visible light) that we can absorb. The difference between the lamp and the plutonium is that the lamp releases energy we can see while the plutonium releases "invisible" energy (the wave length of visible light is much longer than that of gamma radiation).

The colour of light released by the substance is dependant on the substance and unrelated to the plutonium.

and given that it's created artificially from uranium, would it be possible to find it occurring naturally in the universe?

Yes it does. The "artificial process" is that uranium-238 is hit by a neutron of the right velocity and the neutron is absorbed. This creates uranium-239 which is highly unstable and a neutron is "separated" into an electron and a proton and thereby turning the nucleus into what we define as plutonium-239.

This process can also occur in uranium-238 rich mineral deposits in nature but it doesn't happen often enough for us to care much about it.

Basicly you can compare this with car drivers hitting pedestrians. It is extremly unlikely that I will be hit by a car the next time I cross a road, but billions of road crossings occur every day which means that some accidents do happen.

The process in a nuclear reactor be like filling a football stadium with drunk and obnoxius Liverpool fans and then have 4 drunk Manchester United fans racing cars down the field.

Finding a run over pedestrian will be much harder the "real word" than inside the football stadium. There does however exist run over pedestrians both inside the football stadium and in other places in the world.

[Exarch]

wow thanks chris and adar

u've re-ignited (pun) my love for chemistry again^_^

[Dulce_et_Decorum_Est]

If you put it under water it might glow blue from Cherenkov radiation.

[Old_Scratch]

If you put it under water it might glow blue from Cherenkov radiation.

Yeah, I've seen videos of a nuclear reactor and the radioactive elements under the water were glowing blue.

[Adar]

Cerenkov is not the plutonium glowing. The reactor is releasing alot of charged particles (ie alot of electrons and some protons) into the surrounding water. These then crashes into the water molecules and push their electrons into higher energy states, as the electrons then drop down in energy levels (release the energy previously absorbed by the collision) are photons released (what we see as light and essentially is the energy corresponding to the drop in energy levels).




Personally I think it is very important to differentiate between the chemical properties of plutonium (a quite unimpressive heavy metal) from the properties shared among all fissile materials (fissile materials = materials that can be broken down in a chain reaction, this includes uranium, plutonium and thorium). It is terribly hard for a person without a chemical/physical education to differentiate between the chemical properties (ie how it looks, what it reacts with etc) and the properties shared by all radioactive materials (producing energy that radiates from the material etc).

The name "Cerenkov radiation" sounds quite impressive. But for practical purposes of every day life. Is it pretty much a funky blue light caused by water around a reactor being hit by charged particles moving at a high speed (as in faster than three quarters of the speed of light in vacuum). By breaking this kind of knowledge into understandable parts am I of the belief that alot more people will understand science and become intrested in it (yes Exarch, this means I want you to go and become a doctor in nuclear physics ).


I think this also is a good time to explain why we call the blue light "Cerenkov radiation" (and not just blue light in nuclear reactors).

Cerenkov is the Soviet scientist who researched (through mathmatical calculations and experimental results) how the the Cerenkov radiation behaves. This means that he figured out at what wave lengths we see Cerenkov radiation (the majority of it is actually ultraviolett rather than blue) under what conditions it exists and what physical processes causes it. Basicly he defined what it is, why it is and how it affects the surrounding world. Cerenkovs definitions means we can talk about "Cerenkov radiation" and mean all this information (and alot more technical data).

[Exarch]

yes Exarch, this means I want you to go and become a doctor in nuclear physics

LOL, several lifetimes later
then i'll see u in stockholm for the physics prize eh

[Broken Pope]

I can't believe nobody has given you a straight answer yet.

No. It doesn't glow. It is a dull charcoal-coloured metal.

In processing plants, they use a liquid coolant. The liquid is highly coloured so that leaks are easier to spot. Hence the fluorenscent green colour!

D'oh!