Element 98 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is californium. Californium is used to help start up nuclear reactors, in oil wells, and is also used to detect corrosion in aircraft parts.

Element 98 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is californium. Californium is used to help start up nuclear reactors, in oil wells, and is also used to detect corrosion in aircraft parts.
Element 97 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is berkelium. Berkelium is short on applications but is used as a target in the production of even heavier elements.
Element 96 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is curium. Curium’s radioactivity limits its uses – but also enables its use as a source of alpha particles in space probe spectrometers.
Element 95 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is americium. Americium is used in home smoke detectors and could also be used as an alternative to plutonium in space probes in the future.
Element 94 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is plutonium. Plutonium is used in nuclear weapons and has also powered famous space probes in journeys out of our solar system.
Element 93 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is neptunium. Neptunium is a radioactive metal with few uses – though it is found in smoke detectors, and is also predicted to have the largest liquid range of any element.