# Berkelium ## 🧊 Berkelium · 3D (three.js) <iframe src="https://wikitube-elements.netlify.app/?el=Bk&embed=1" width="100%" height="620" frameborder="0" style="border:0;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden" allowfullscreen loading="lazy" title="The Elements 3D microsim - Berkelium"></iframe> *Berkelium in the live three.js Elements explorer — drag to orbit the atom, click any tile to compare, slide the temperature.* · [▶ open full](https://wikitube-elements.netlify.app/?el=Bk) <!-- ELEMENTS_MICROSIM:END --> !Berkelium plate.svg *Plate 97 of 118 - animated Bohr shells, stylized per Madelung filling; engraving style per house Arcanity kit.* ## Microsim To Do *Claimable rows, house pattern. Real Wikipedia articles only.* - Nuclear transmutation - creating berkelium by alpha bombardment - Particle accelerator - tools for synthesizing transactinide elements - [[Radioactive_decay|Radioactive decay]] - berkelium-247 and ultra-long half-lives - Actinide chemistry - berkelium's place in the f-block series ## Links (Wikipedia order) <!-- injected from _registry/childlinks/Berkelium.json (2026-07-30T02:09:12Z) --> `1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash` · `Actinide` · [[Actinium]] · `Actinocene` · `Albert_Ghiorso` · `Alkali_metal` · `Alkaline_earth_metal` · `Alpha` · [[Alpha_decay]] · [[Alpha_particle]] · [[Aluminium]] · [[Americium]] · `Americium-241` · `Americium_dioxide` · `Amine` · `Ammonia` · `Ammonia_solution` · `Ammonium` · `Ammonium_sulfate` · `Angular_momentum_coupling` · `Antiferromagnetism` · [[Antimony]] · `Arco,_Idaho` · [[Argon]] · [[Arsenic]] · [[Astatine]] · `Atomic_number` · `Atomic_radius` · [[Barium]] · `Barn_(unit)` · `Berkeley,_California` · `Berkelium(II)_oxide` · 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`X-ray_crystallography` · [[Xenon]] · [[Ytterbium]] · `Ytterby` · [[Yttrium]] · `Yttrium(III)_fluoride` · [[Zinc]] · [[Zirconium]] · `Zirconium_tetrafluoride` > **Official MAIN - Chemical element, Z = 97.** Part of the Elements Canon (one canonical page per element). Infobox grounded in [Wikipedia: List of chemical elements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_elements), fetched 2026-07-08. Full article: [Wikipedia: Berkelium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkelium). <!-- ELEMENTS_MICROSIM:BEGIN (auto-managed block - edits inside will be overwritten) --> ## Key facts (infobox) | | | |---|---| | Symbol - Z | Bk - 97 | | Group - Period - Block | f - 7 - f-block | | Atomic weight (Da) | [247] | | Density (g/cm3) | 14.78 | | Melting - Boiling (K) | 1259 - 2900 | | Electronegativity (Pauling) | 1.3 | | Crustal abundance (mg/kg) | - | | Origin | synthetic | | Phase (STP) | solid | | Name origin | Berkeley, California | *Bracketed weights are the mass number of the most stable isotope; values in parentheses are predictions (per the source table).* ## Story Berkelium was first synthesized in 1949 by Glenn T. Seaborg, Stanley Thompson, and Kenneth Street Jr. at the University of California's Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley. The element was named after its city of discovery, Berkeley, California, following the tradition of naming heavy elements after places. Berkelium-247, the longest-lived isotope, has a half-life of 1.38 billion years. [model-prior - verify] Berkelium is produced by bombarding curium or lighter actinides with alpha particles. Berkelium is a highly radioactive, toxic actinide metal. It is intensely radioactive and extremely rare, with only tiny quantities ever synthesized. Berkelium has no known practical applications outside of pure research. All berkelium in existence is produced in nuclear reactors or by particle bombardment in accelerators, and its extreme scarcity and hazard profile mean it remains accessible only to specialized research institutions. In the canon, berkelium stands at the far frontier of synthesized elements, representing the deepening commitment of 20th-century physics to creating new forms of matter and extending the boundaries of the periodic table. ## Corpus connections Berkelium marks the extension of the transuranium frontier into the exotic region where only trace quantities exist. It embodies the post-war commitment to nuclear science and accelerator-based element synthesis. - R.E.A.C.T.I.O.N. - the Chemistry hub - Centers of Excellence Portal - [[Technetium|Technetium - the element made before found]] - the canon's patron - and Technitium, the School - [Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Berkeley_National_Laboratory) - where berkelium was first synthesized - [Nuclear transmutation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation) - alpha bombardment of curium and lighter actinides ## Vocational-Technical Semiotics The element speaks the canon's shared signs: the periodic table cell (Bk, group f, period 7), isotope notation, and hazard pictograms ghs where handling demands it. ## Sources Infobox: [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_elements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_elements) (fetched 2026-07-08); etymology per the same table's notes. Story sources to be added at enrichment. ## Navigation - Canon: Elements Canon index - neighbors by Z: [[Curium|Curium (96)]] - [[Californium|Californium (98)]] - R.E.A.C.T.I.O.N. - Centers of Excellence ## Wikipedia : Wikitube **Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkelium) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Berkelium) ## Previous hub tags Tree parents: [[Helium]] · [[Hydrogen]] · [[Oxygen]]. Legacy hubs: none. --- *Sources: 1 legacy note. Minted wave 1, 2026-07-30 (v1.6 order).*