Berkelium

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/berkelium

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 Berkelium?December 1949
2. What is the atomic number?97
3. What is the symbol?Bk
4. Why is it called Berkelium?Scientists named it after the city of Berkeley, where the scientists who made it worked. The name shows where the discovery happened.
5. How do scientists make Berkelium?They use powerful nuclear reactors that shoot many neutrons at target materials. The reactions create tiny amounts of Berkelium, usually only a few micrograms or milligrams.

Transuranium Element: Elements with atomic numbers greater than 92 (Uranium), artificially produced and highly radioactive.
Actinide Series: A group of 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103.
Half-life: The time required for a quantity of a radioactive substance to reduce to half of its initial value.
Island of Stability: A theoretical region of the nuclear chart where superheavy isotopes are predicted to have significantly longer half-lives.