Facts about Berkelium

X-ray diffraction techniques have been used to identify various berkelium compounds such as berkelium dioxide (BkO2), berkelium trioxide (BkO3), berkelium fluoride (BkF3), and berkelium oxychloride (BkOCl).

The isotopes of berkelium range in atomic weight from 235.057 amu (235Bk) to 254.091 amu (254Bk).

Berkelium (chemical symbol Bk, atomic number 97) is a synthetic, radioactive chemical element, classified as an actinide.

In 1962, visible amounts of berkelium chloride (BkCl3) were isolated that weighed 3 billionths of a gram.

Berkelium was first synthesized by Glenn T. Seaborg, Albert Ghiorso, Stanley G. Thompson, and Kenneth Street, Jr., at the University of California, Berkeley in December 1949.

Berkelium was the fifth transuranic element to be synthesized.

Berkelium is an inner transition metal of the actinide series, located in period 7 of the periodic table, between curium and californium.