ACTINIDE ELEMENT

any of a series of 15 consecutive chemical elements in the periodic table from actinium to lawrencium (atomic numbers 89-103). As a group they are significant largely because of their radioactivity. Although several members of the group, including uranium (the most familiar), occur naturally, most are man-made. Both uranium and plutonium have been used in atomic bombs for their explosive power and currently are being employed in nuclear plants for the production of electrical power. Additional reading Overviews are found in Glenn T. Seaborg and Joseph J. Katz (eds.), The Actinide Elements (1954), individual papers by the original scientists on work done during World War II; K.W. Bagnall, The Actinide Elements (1972); and F.L. Oetting, M.H. Rand, and R.J. Ackermann, The Actinide Elements (1976). More specific studies include Joseph J. Katz, Glenn T. Seaborg, and Lester R. Morss (eds.), The Chemistry of the Actinide Elements, 2nd ed. (1986); Arthur J. Freeman and J.B. Darby, Jr. (eds.), The Actinides: Electronic Structure and Related Properties, 2 vol. (1974); Norman M. Edelstein (ed.), Actinides in Perspective (1982), conference proceedings, and Lanthanide and Actinide Chemistry and Spectroscopy (1980); J. Fuger et al., The Actinide Aqueous Inorganic Complexes (1992); D.L. Hildenbrand, L.V. Gurvich, and V.S. Yungman (eds.), The Gaseous Actinide Ions (1985); James D. Navratil and Wallace W. Schulz (eds.), Actinide Separations (1980); and Norman M. Edelstein, James D. Navratil, and Wallace W. Schulz (eds.), Americium and Curium Chemistry and Technology (1985). Larned B. Asprey The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica