Quick Links : The Mindat Manual The Rock H. Currier Digital Library Mindat Newsletter [Free Download]

Home Page About Mindat The Mindat Manual History of Mindat Copyright Status Who We Are Contact Us Advertise on Mindat

Donate to Mindat Corporate Sponsorship Sponsor a Page Sponsored Pages Mindat Advertisers Advertise on Mindat

Learning Center What is a mineral?The most common minerals on earth Information for Educators Mindat Articles The Elements The Rock H. Currier Digital Library Geologic Time

Minerals by Properties Minerals by Chemistry Mineral Visual Explorer Advanced Locality Search Random Mineral Random Locality Search by minID Localities Near Me Search Articles Search Glossary More Search Options

The Mindat Manual Add a New Photo Rate Photos Locality Edit Report Coordinate Completion Report Add Glossary Item

Mining Companies Statistics Users Mineral Museums Clubs & Organizations Mineral Shows & Events The Mindat Directory Device Settings The Mineral Quiz Time Machine

Photo Search Photo Galleries Search by Color Photo Colour Explorer New Photos Today New Photos Yesterday Members' Photo Galleries Past Photo of the Day Gallery Photography

The mineralogy of Plutonium

About Plutonium
Trace amounts of plutonium are found in some uranium ores of ratios of a few parts per trillion, mostly the isotope ²³⁹Pu but ²³⁸Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu and ²⁴⁴Pu have also been detected in much smaller amounts. No mineral species with significant plutonium have been described.

General Properties
Symbol:	Pu
Atomic Number:	94
Standard atomic weight (A_r):	[244]
Electron configuration:	[Rn] 5f⁶ 7s²

Photos

<	Plutonium	>

Atomic Properties
Electronegativity (Pauling scale):	1.28
Atomic Radius:	159 pm
Ionic Radius:	100 pm (+3)
1st Ionization energy:	585 kJ/mol
Oxidation States:	3,4,5,6,7

Physical Properties
Standard State:	solid
Bonding Type:	metallic
Melting Point:	913 K
Boiling Point:	3503 K
Density:	19.82 g/cm³
Metal/Non-Metal:	actinoid

Main isotopes of Plutonium
Isotope	% in Nature	Half Life	Decay type	Decay product
²³⁶Pu	trace	87.74y	Spontaneous fission
²³⁶Pu	trace	87.74y	α	²³⁴U
²³⁹Pu	trace	2.41×10⁴y	Spontaneous fission
²³⁹Pu	trace	2.41×10⁴y	α	²³⁵U
²⁴⁰Pu	trace	6.5×10³y	Spontaneous fission
²⁴⁰Pu	trace	6.5×10³y	α	²³⁶U
²⁴¹Pu	synthetic	14y	β−	²⁴¹Am
²⁴¹Pu	synthetic	14y	Spontaneous fission
²⁴²Pu	synthetic	3.73×10⁵y	Spontaneous fission
²⁴²Pu	synthetic	3.73×10⁵y	α	²³⁸U
²⁴⁴Pu	trace	8.08×10⁷y	α	²⁴⁰U
²⁴⁴Pu	trace	8.08×10⁷y	Spontaneous fission

Main ions of Plutonium
Name	Ion	Example minerals
plutonium(III)	Pu³⁺
plutonium(IV)	Pu⁴⁺
plutonium(V)	PuO₂⁺
plutonium(VI)	PuO₂²⁺
plutonium(VII)	PuO₅^3-

Other Information
Year Discovered:	1940–1
Discovered By:	Glenn T. Seaborg Edwin Mattison McMillan Glenn T. Seaborg, Arthur Wahl, Joseph W. Kennedy, Edwin McMillan
Named For:	dwarf planet Pluto
CPK color coding:	#006BFF
External Links:	Wikipedia WebElements Los Alamos National Laboratory Theodore Gray's PeriodicTable.com

Simple Compounds
Nitrides	plutonium nitride	PuN	+3
Sulfides	plutonium sulphide	PuS	+2
	plutonium disulphide	PuS₂	+4
	diplutonium trisulphide	Pu₂S₃	+3
Selenides	plutonium selenide	PuSe	+2
Hydrides	plutonium dihydride	PuH₂	+2
Hydrides	plutonium trihydride	PuH₃	+3
Hydroxides	plutonium hydroxide	Pu(OH)₃	+3
Fluorides	plutonium trifluoride	PuF₃	+3
	plutonium tetrafluoride	PuF₄	+4
	plutonium hexafluoride	PuF₆	+6
Chlorides	plutonium trichloride	PuCl₃	+3
Bromides	plutonium tribromide	PuBr₃	+3
Iodides	plutonium triiodide	PuI₃	+3
Oxides	plutonium oxide	PuO	+2
	plutonium dioxide	PuO₂	+4
	diplutonium trioxide	Pu₂O₃	+3
Carbonates	plutonium (VI) carbonate oxide	PuO₂CO₃	+6

Geochemistry of Plutonium
Goldschmidt classification:	Lithophile

Periodic Table

2He

3Li

4Be

Show/hide current element

Default Categories CPK Electronegativity Atomic Radius Lowest Oxidation Highest Oxidation Crustal Abundance Goldschmidt Mineral Species

Neptunium << Plutonium >> Americium

Spotted a mistake/omission? - These pages are a work in progress, so please send all comments/corrections to jolyon@mindat.org. Thank you.

Constants and physical property data from:

Lide, David R. - Ed. (2005) CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - A Ready-Reference Book of Chemical and Physical Data (85th ed.). CRC Press.
National Physical Laboratory (2005) Kaye and Laby Online (discontinued). https://web.archive.org/web/20190506031327/http://www.kayelaby.npl.co.uk/
Kaye, G. W. C.; Laby, T. H. (n.d.) Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants and some Mathematical Functions. Longmans, Green, and Co.
Greenwood, N.N.; Earnshaw, A. (1997) Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann.
Ahrens, Thomas J. - Ed. (1995) Global Earth Physics - A Handbook of Physical Constants - AGU Reference Shelf No. 1. American Geophysical Union.
Railsback, L. Bruce (2003) An earth scientist's periodic table of the elements and their ions. Geology, 31 (9) 737 doi:10.1130/g19542.1
Emsley, John (2001) Nature's Building Blocks - An A-Z Guide to the Elements. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Mindat.org® is an outreach project of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Mindat® and mindat.org® are registered trademarks of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy.
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2026, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph and Ida Chau.
To cite: Ralph, J., Von Bargen, D., Martynov, P., Zhang, J., Que, X., Prabhu, A., Morrison, S. M., Li, W., Chen, W., & Ma, X. (2025). Mindat.org: The open access mineralogy database to accelerate data-intensive geoscience research. American Mineralogist, 110(6), 833–844. doi:10.2138/am-2024-9486.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: June 8, 2026 03:51:11

Go to top of page