MEXICO: Absence of magnetism in the rare metal Plutonium has baffled scientists for decades. In a new study conducted by a group of scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, has unraveled the mystery behind the unique properties of the metal, in particular the missing magnetism.
For the purpose of the study, the scientists took a plutonium sample and fired a beam of neutrons at it. They opined that initially the electrons that spin around atoms in shells are in a low-energy state, called a ground state. Each spin or orbital, as it is called, has a certain maximum number of electrons that it can hold.
When in the experiment, the neutrons’ and electrons’ moments interacted, the researchers were able to count the number of electrons in the outer shell. They discovered that while in ground state, plutonium could have four, five or six electrons in the outer shell. These numbers fluctuate in the three different configurations. Earlier studies had assumed that this electron number was fixed.
It is the unpaired electrons that lend the magnets their sticking power. In fact, each electron is like a tiny magnet with a north and a south pole. When these electrons spin around in an atom’s shells, they each take their place singly and the magnetic moments point in the same direction. As more and more electrons fill the shell, they pair up with the north and south poles each facing each other so that the magnetic fields cancel out.
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