Onyx

What is onyx?

An onyx is a very dull gemstone that is found in Brazil, India, and California. It has a very smooth texture and is usually brown, though there are some brown and red onyx too. Some onyx have white stripes through them. These specific types are called sardonyx.

The word onyx comes from the Greek term for nails or claws. The myth is that when Venus slept with Eros, he clipped her fingernails and they fell to Earth. Since no part of a God can die, they were instead turned into stone which became onyx.

Onyx is a 6.5 on the Mohs scale of Hardness, and is often used in grinding and carving. It is made up out of microcrystalline quartz, which gives it a very strong structure. Onyx was worn as a protective stone in battle, and also used to carve small Hercules statuettes for courage.

Onyx is also believed to be an increase of happiness, instinct, and intuition. It is also worn to help fight disease and break bad habits.

Berkelium

Berkelium was first discovered by Stanley Thompson, Albert Ghiorso and Glenn Seaborg in 1949. It was named after Berkeley, California where it was discovered. It was created by bombarding americium and was separated and identified by high temp ion-exchange columns. It is only produced in small amounts at labs by nuclear reactions.

The metal itself is silvery-white and is very radioactive- but it deteriorates slowly in air. This is thought to happen because of a thin protective oxide layer that is automatically formed. It is currently only used in scientific experiments and research.

Curium

Curium was discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A.James, and Albert Ghiorso in 1944- right after the discovery of Americium. Curium was first named "delirium" because of the troubles that workers had separating it from americium. It was named after Marie and Pierre Curie, who devoted a lot of time working on radioactivity and discovered radium and polonium.

Curium is a dangerous element to handle- if not stored/handled right, it accumulates in bones and destroys the marrow- therefore preventing the formation of red blood cells. It is highly radioactive- so much so that it glows red in the dark. Otherwise, it is a dull silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly at room temp. It is mainly used in scientific research.

Americium

Americium was founded in? AMERICA! This element was named after it's founding country, and also because it is just below Europium on the Periodic Table- and Europium was named after Europe. It was first discovered in 1944 by Seaborg, James and Morgan at the metallurgical laboratory at the University of Chicago. It is not a natural element, and was discovered as a by-product of plutonium processing.

However, Americium is highly radioactive, and must be stored and handled very carefully because of this. It appears a silvery-white metal, and has a similar density to lead. It is used most commonly in smoke detectors- one gram supplies enough energy for more than 3 million detectors. It tarnishes slowly at room temperature.

Neptunium

Neptunium was the first synthetic transuranium element of the actinide series to be discovered. It was first created by Edwin McMillan and Philip H. Abelson in 1940, at the Berkeley Radiation Lab of the University of California. It was created by bombarding isotopes of uranium with other elements. It was named after the planet Neptune, much like uranium was named after Uranus.

Neptunium is a silvery metal, and has to be handled and stored carefully due to it's radioactivity. It has five known oxidation states- and each state produces a different color. Neptunium is often bombarded with neutrons to create plutonium- which is then used in spacecraft generators and terrestrial navigation beacons. Neptunium is also used in neutron detection equipment.