|
Thorium, including Technical Data, Safety Data and its high purity properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure,ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included. Thorium is a lanthanide (rare earth) material with potential nuclear power applications. Thorium is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. It is presently used as a tungsten coating in electronic parts due to its high emission factor. Thorium in the form of its fluoride and oxide is used in advanced optic applications for its high refractive index. It is also used in several other high temperature glass applications, such as in the mantle of lamps and to produce crystal growth crucibles and ampules. The name Thorium originates from the Scandinavian god, Thor, the Norse god of war and thunder.
Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses  as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble.Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Thorium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries. Thorium is a Block F, Group 3, Period 7 element. The number of electrons in each of Thorium‘s shells is 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 10, 2 and its electronic configuration is [Rn] 6d2 7s2. In its elemental form thorium‘s CAS number is 7440-29-1. The thorium atom has a radius of 179.8.pm and it‘s Van der Waals radius is 200.pm. Thorium is radioactive and can collect in bones which may cause bone cancer several years after exposure. Breathing in substantial amounts of thorium may be lethal.  All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, thin fillm deposition using sputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Thorium compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis. Thorium, first discovered by Jons Berzelius in 1828, is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Formula | Atomic Number | Molecular Weight | Electronegativity (Pauling) | Density | Melting Point | Boiling Point | Vanderwaals radius | Ionic radius | Energy of first ionization |
| Th | 90 | 232.04 g.mol-1 | 1.3 | 11.72 g.cm-3 at 20 °C | 1750 °C | 4790 °C | 200.pm | 0.110 nm (+4) | 608.51 kJ.mol-1 |
