Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A naturally radioactive, silvery, metallic transuranic element, occurring in uranium ores and produced artificially by neutron bombardment of uranium. Its longest-lived isotope is Pu 244 with a half-life of 76 million years. It is a radiological poison, specifically absorbed by bone marrow, and is used, especially the highly fissionable isotope Pu 239, as a reactor fuel and in nuclear weapons. Atomic number 94; melting point 640°C; boiling point 3,235°C; specific gravity 19.84; valence 3, 4, 5, 6. See Table at element.
Wiktionary
- n. The transuranic chemical element with atomic number 94 and symbol Pu.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a solid silvery grey radioactive transuranic element whose atoms can be split when bombarded with neutrons; found in minute quantities in uranium ores but is usually synthesized in nuclear reactors; 13 isotopes are known with the most important being plutonium 239
Etymologies
- After Pluto (the entity formerly considered to be a planet). (Wiktionary)
- After the dwarf planet Pluto (from the fact that it follows neptunium in the periodic table). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
““I'm sure that in 1985 plutonium is available in every corner drugstore, but in 1955 it's a little hard to come by.””
“In 2007, North Korea shut down its main plutonium-producing plant and agreed to end all nuclear programs in exchange for aid and diplomatic concessions.”
Voice of America: S. Korea Looks for Sincere Gesture from North
“The half-life of (radioactive) plutonium is about 77,000 years.”
“To reduce the risk of proliferation in the ME and help lay the basis for a regionwide nuclear weapon free zone, the US must ensure that plutonium is not separated from irradiated reactor fuel, insist on adequate international inspections of these countries, including the adoption of the Additional Protocol, and develop mechanisms to remove spent fuel from the region.”
“Given that just 8 kg of plutonium is enough to fabricate a nuclear weapon, this figure is significant.”
“Or we could convince congress to let NASA buy plutonium from the Russians, but their stocks are only a little larger than ours, and they aren't currently producing either.”
MSL Delay: Add 2 Years and $400 Million (and counting) - NASA Watch
“And plutonium is difficult to handle — sufficiently radioactive to require shielding, awkward to transport without setting off radiation detectors, and extremely dangerous even in minute quantities if it is breathed in, swallowed, or absorbed through a cut or open wound.”
“Plutonium might work as the pollutant spread by a dirty bomb, but for your project, plutonium is out.”
“It requires chemical separation of plutonium from the other elements in spent fuel through a complex process that is much harder than using centrifuges to enrich uranium.”
“The way you make plutonium is you run a reactor and after a few weeks or months you take the fuel rods out and put them in big vats of acid.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘plutonium’.
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SEDE - technology+material+support
nuclear fuel, nuclear arsenal, nuclear equipment, AWACS, anti-missile shield, battlefield opera..., communication sys..., community communi..., control system, functionality log..., Missile Technolog..., NBC Warning and R... and 302 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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TECH - metals and alloys
embrittle, braze, nickel alloy, metallize, Inconel, eutectic, metalize, vapor pressure, corrosion-resistant, alloy, stainless steel, neutron flux and 262 more...
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
Chemical Elements
A list of chemical elements
hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium and 106 more...
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Favorite Words
symbologist, articulate, sushi, chinchilla, flagrant, cosmic, perforate, alacrity, gooseflesh, xenophobic, bamboozle, squirrel and 90 more...
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Namesakes
Words derived from names, be they historical, literary, or mythological.
quixotic, cereal, odyssey, jovial, mercurial, erotic, achilles' heel, confucianism, lovecraftian, narcissism, echo, fallopian and 101 more...
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The Elements
hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium and 99 more...
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Hedgepiglet
Words for things both tangible and nonanthropic
rorqual, vellus, wrasse, rainbow bee-eater, tinkershire, lemonquat, boomslang, tufted vetch, cubeb, nipplefruit, madapple, wad and 447 more...
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Number 9 Dream
By David Mitchell
slag-heap, coracle, unsilt, aquiline, crispen, treatise, hippocampus, fortuitous, megalomania, malinger, dreck, escarpment and 97 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
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Enjoyable to utter
globular cluster, plutonium, specious, gibbous, umbra, penumbra, prestidigitation, grok, trippingly, cellar door, pleiades, verisimilitude and 7 more...
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1
shingle, poise, alabaster, soft, languid, vacuous, requiem, lethargy, lucid, slake, plutonium, damasked and 88 more...
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elements
sulfur, plutonium, manganese, magnesium, cesium, actinium, beryllium, bismuth, boron, plumbum, potassium, thulium and 1 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for plutonium.
oroboros Pu. Dec 15, 2007