Curium

Actinide · atomic number 96

96247CmCuriumSolidActinide

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.

Properties of Curium

Element category	Actinide
Atomic number	96
Atomic mass	247 u
Phase at STP	Solid
Group	3
Period	7
Block	f
Electron configuration	[Rn] 5f7 6d1 7s2
Electrons per shell	2, 8, 18, 32, 25, 9, 2
Electronegativity (Pauling)	1.28
Melting point	1613 K (1340 °C)
Boiling point	3383 K (3110 °C)
Density	13.51 g/cm3
Discovered by	Glenn T. Seaborg

← Americium · Periodic table · Berkelium → Bk

About the actinide group

Mostly radioactive, heavy metals — several made only in reactors — whose fission powers nuclear energy and weapons.

Data: Periodic-Table-JSON (CC BY-SA 3.0) · stored statically on our server. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curium

Explore by category — Periodic Table /unsur

⚛️ Full periodic table

All 118 chemical elements on one interactive, colour-coded table, each linking to a fact file and plain-language summary.

🧪 Reactive nonmetal

11 elements: Elements that readily gain or share electrons — the building blocks of water, air, living tissue and most organic chemistry.

🧪 Noble gas

6 elements: Full outer electron shells make these gases almost inert: they barely react, glow in discharge lamps and are used to create unreactive atmospheres.

🧪 Alkali metal

6 elements: Soft, wildly reactive metals of group 1 — they fizz in water and never occur pure in nature. Lithium, sodium, potassium and friends.

🧪 Alkaline earth metal

6 elements: Reactive group-2 metals a step calmer than the alkalis: magnesium, calcium and the structural and biological workhorses among them.

🧪 Transition metal

35 elements: The dense, strong, catalytic heart of the table — iron, copper, gold, titanium — responsible for most of metallurgy, jewellery and industry.

🧪 Post-transition metal

9 elements: Softer, lower-melting metals beside the transition block — aluminium, tin, lead — abundant in cans, foils, solders and pigments.

🧪 Metalloid

7 elements: In-between elements that behave as semiconductors: silicon, germanium and boron underpin electronics, glass and solar cells.

🧪 Lanthanide

15 elements: The rare-earth “inner transition” metals that give strong permanent magnets, screen phosphors and catalyst polish.

🧪 Actinide

15 elements: Mostly radioactive, heavy metals — several made only in reactors — whose fission powers nuclear energy and weapons.

🧪 Unknown properties

8 elements: Superheavy synthetic elements made atom-by-atom, existing for fractions of a second; their true chemistry is still unmeasured.