Actinium

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/actinium

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who discovered Actinium?1902 by Friedrich Oskar Giesel
2. What is the atomic number?89
3. What is the chemical symbol?Ac
4. What is Actinium and why does it glow?Actinium is a very rare, silvery metal that glows faintly because it is radioactive.
5. How was Actinium discovered?It was first found in 1902 by Friedrich Oskar Giesel, after a similar substance was reported in 1899 by André-Louis Debierne, who named it actinium from the Greek word for ray.

Actinide Series: A group of 15 chemically similar metallic elements with atomic numbers 89 through 103.
Oxidation State: The degree of oxidation of an atom in a chemical compound, expressed as a number.
Half-life: The time required for a quantity to reduce to half its initial value, particularly in radioactive decay.
Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT): A cancer treatment that uses alpha-emitting radioisotopes attached to molecules that target cancer cells.