02.10.12
Quote Friday
“Plutonium is so unusual as to approach the unbelievable. Under some conditions it can be nearly as hard and brittle as glass; under others, as soft as plastic or lead. It will burn and crumble quickly to powder when heated in air, or slowly disintegrate when kept at room temperature. It undergoes no less than five phase transitions between room temperature and its melting point. Strangely enough in two of its phases, plutonium actually contracts as it is being heated. It has no less than four oxidation states. It is unique among all of the chemical elements. And it is fiendishly toxic, even in small amounts.”
~Glenn Seaborg, 1912-1999, nuclear chemist and Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for the discovery of transuranic elements and also known for the discovery of plutonium
