![]() Many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties. It occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead, and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten. Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 (which has 146 neutrons and accounts for over 99% of uranium on Earth) and uranium-235 (which has 143 neutrons). The half-life of this decay varies between 159,200 and 4.5 billion years for different isotopes, making them useful for dating the age of the Earth. ![]() ![]() Uranium radioactively decays by emitting an alpha particle. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. Uranium is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92.
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