actinides![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Radioactive elements that are abundant in nature (elements 89 to 92) or made artificially (elements 93 to 103). Most of them have no industrial applications.
lawrencium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that is produced from californium; it is used for scientific research only.
nobelium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that is produced from curium; it is named in honor of Alfred Nobel (inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prize).
mendelevium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that is produced from einsteinium; it is named in honor of the chemist Mendeleyev (who classified the elements).
fermium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that was discovered at the same time as einsteinium; it is used for scientific research only.
einsteinium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that was discovered in 1952 among the debris of the first thermonuclear explosion in the Pacific; it is used for scientific research only.
californium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal produced from curium that is used especially in the treatment of cancer and in some measuring instruments such as humidistats.
berkelium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that is produced in small amounts from americium; it is used for scientific research only.
curium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that is produced in small amounts from plutonium; it is used especially in thermoelectric generators for spacecraft propulsion.
americium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that is produced from plutonium; it is used mainly in smoke detectors and in radiology.
plutonium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that is produced from uranium; it is used especially as fuel in nuclear reactors as well as in nuclear weapons.
neptunium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Rare metal that is produced from uranium; it is used in neutron-detection instruments.
uranium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Naturally abundant metal that is used mainly as fuel in nuclear reactors as well as in nuclear weapons.
protactinium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Very rare metal that is present in uranium ore; it has few applications outside of scientific research.
thorium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Natural metal that is used especially in alloys, photoelectric cells and uranium production.
actinium ![click to hear](/images/speaker.jpg)
Metal that is present in small quantities in uranium ore; it is used mainly as a source of neutrons in nuclear reactors.