Curium

Curium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with symbol Cm and atomic number 96. This element of the actinide series was named after Marie and Pierre Curie – both were known for their research on radioactivity. Curium was first intentionally produced and identified in July 1944 by the group of Glenn T. Seaborg at the University of California, Berkeley. The discovery was kept secret and only released to the public in November 1945. Most curium is produced by bombarding uranium or plutonium with neutrons in nuclear reactors – one tonne of spent nuclear fuel contains about 20 grams of curium.

Curium is a hard, dense, silvery metal with a relatively high melting point and boiling point for an actinide. Whereas it is paramagnetic at ambient conditions, it becomes antiferromagnetic upon cooling, and other magnetic transitions are also observed for many curium compounds. In compounds, curium usually exhibits valence +3 and sometimes +4, and the +3 valence is predominant in solutions. Curium readily oxidizes, and its oxides are a dominant form of this element. It forms strongly fluorescent complexes with various organic compounds, but there is no evidence of its incorporation into bacteria and archaea. When introduced into the human body, curium accumulates in the bones, lungs and liver, where it promotes cancer.

Kourion

Kourion (Greek: Κούριον) or Latin: Curium, an ancient Greek city on the southwestern coast of Cyprus, the surrounding Kouris River Valley being occupied from at least the Ceramic Neolithic period (4500-3800 BCE) to the present. The acropolis of Kourion, located 1.3 km southwest of Episkopi and 13 km west of Limassol, is located atop a limestone promontory approximately 43-51m in height along the shore of Episkopi Bay. The Kourion arhcaeological area lies within the Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area, which forms part of the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The site is maintained and administrated by Cyprus Department of Antiquities.

Kourion was a city of considerable importance within Cyprus, being well attested to by ancient authors including: Ptolemy (v. 14. § 2), Stephanus of Byzantium, Hierocles, and Pliny the Elder. The most significant excavated remains on the acropolis of Kourion are dated to the Hellenistic to Early Byzantine periods.

History of Kourion

The earliest occupation within the Kouris River Valley is the Ceramic Neolithic (4500-3800 BC) hilltop village at Sotira-Teppes, located 9 km northwest of Kourion. Another Ceramic Neolithic hilltop settlement has been excavated at Kandou-Koupovounos, a hilltop on the east bank of the Kouris River. In the Chalcolithic period (3800-2300 BCE) settlement shifted to the site of Erimi-Pamboules, located within the village of Erimi. Erimi-Pamboules was occupied from the conclusion of the Ceramic Neolithic through the Chalcolithic period (3400-2800 BCE).

Isotopes of curium

Curium (Cm) is an artificial element with an atomic number of 96. Because it is an artificial element, a standard atomic mass cannot be given, and it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope synthesized was ²⁴²Cm in 1944, which has 146 neutrons. All of the isotopes are radioactive.

There are 21 known radioisotopes with atomic masses ranging from ²³²Cm to ²⁵²Cm. There are also four known nuclear isomers (^243mCm, ^244mCm, ^245mCm, and ^249mCm). The longest-lived isotope is ²⁴⁷Cm, with a half-life of 15.6 million years – several orders of magnitude longer than the half-life of all known nuclei of elements beyond curium in the periodic table. The longest-lived isomer is ^244mCm with a half-life of 34 milliseconds.

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