HHomeBackground Color:He
LiBeProtactinium Pictures PageBlack White GrayBCNOFNe
NaMgProtactinium Technical DataAlSiPSClAr
KCaProtactinium Isotope DataScTiVCrMnFeCoNiCuZnGaGeAsSeBrKr
RbSrYZrNbMoTcRuRhPdAgCdInSnSbTeIXe
CsBaLaCePrNdPmSmEuGdTbDyHoErTmYbLuHfTaWReOsIrPtAuHgTlPbBiPoAtRn
FrRaAcThPaUNpPuAmCmBkCfEsFmMdNoLrRfDbSgBhHsMtDsRgCnNhFlMcLvTsOg
Protactinium     

Protactinium

Atomic Weight 231.03588[note]
Density 15.37 g/cm3
Melting Point 1572 °C
Boiling Point 4000 °C
Full technical data

Protactinium occurs in vanishingly small quantities in the natural decay chains of uranium and thorium minerals. At most a few atoms at a time exist in a rock like this, and you can't see any of them.

Scroll down to see examples of Protactinium.
The Elements book Mad Science book Periodic Table Poster  Click here to buy a book, photographic periodic table poster, card deck, or 3D print based on the images you see here!
Protactinium Poster sample

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Poster sample.
This mineral, Torbernite, appears in my Photographic Periodic Table Poster representing protactinium, because this highly unstable element can't reasonably be photographed. The rock probably contains on the order of a few atoms of protactinium at any one time, as part of the complex decay chain of the uranium that makes up a much larger fraction of the sample. In no meaningful way is protactinium itself visible in the sample, but sadly that's about the best you can do with an element like this. The sample photograph includes text exactly as it appears in the poster, which you are encouraged to buy a copy of.
Periodic Table Poster
Source: eBay seller migalf1
Contributor: Jim Markitell
Acquired: 3 June, 2005
Text Updated: 4 May, 2007
Price: $27
Size: 1.5"
Purity: 0%
Protactinium Concentrate from Uranothorianite

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Concentrate from Uranothorianite.
A student in Austria isolated about 0.5 micrograms of protactinium from a sample of uranothorianite and sealed it in this well-made glass ampule. The powder you see is mostly MnO(OH)2 not protactinium: If it were pure protactinium the ampule would quickly melt from the heat and radiation. Protactinium is so intensely radioactive that you probably wouldn't have to have much more that the one part per million in this ampule!
Source: Anonymous
Contributor: Anonymous
Acquired: 4 March, 2004
Text Updated: 8 December, 2007
Price: Donated
Size: 2"
Purity: 0.000001%
Protactinium Sample from the Everest Set

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Sample from the Everest Set.
Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (except gases) weigh about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid.

Radioactive elements like this one are represented in this particular set by a non-radioactive dummy powder, which doesn't look anything like the real element. (In this case a sample of the pure element isn't really practical anyway.)

To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description and information about how to buy one, or you can see photographs of all the samples from the set displayed on my website in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order.

Source: Rob Accurso
Contributor: Rob Accurso
Acquired: 7 February, 2003
Text Updated: 29 January, 2009
Price: Donated
Size: 0.2"
Purity: 0%
Protactinium Sample from the RGB Set

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Sample from the RGB Set.
The Red Green and Blue company in England sells a very nice element collection in several versions. Max Whitby, the director of the company, very kindly donated a complete set to the periodic table table.

To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description or the company's website which includes many photographs and pricing details. I have two photographs of each sample from the set: One taken by me and one from the company. You can see photographs of all the samples displayed in a periodic table format: my pictures or their pictures. Or you can see both side-by-side with bigger pictures in numerical order.

The picture on the left was taken by me. Here is the company's version (there is some variation between sets, so the pictures sometimes show different variations of the samples):


Source: Max Whitby of RGB
Contributor: Max Whitby of RGB
Acquired: 25 January, 2003
Text Updated: 11 August, 2007
Price: Donated
Size: 0.2"
Purity: <0.2%
Protactinium Uranium ore inside a Revigator

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Uranium ore (inside a Revigator).
My Revigator, which contains quite a bit of carnotite uranium ore, probably has more astatine, francium, actinium, and protactinium in it than my depleted uranium metal samples, even though they have far more uranium in them. Look under uranium for a more detailed explanation about what a Revigator is.

Source: eBay seller bettyboop
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 13 November, 2002
Price: $90
Size: 12"
Purity: <0.1%
Protactinium Photo Card Deck of the Elements

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Photo Card Deck of the Elements.
In late 2006 I published a photo periodic table and it's been selling well enough to encourage me to make new products. This one is a particularly neat one: A complete card deck of the elements with one big five-inch (12.7cm) square card for every element. If you like this site and all the pictures on it, you'll love this card deck. And of course if you're wondering what pays for all the pictures and the internet bandwidth to let you look at them, the answer is people buying my posters and cards decks. Hint hint.
Source: Theodore Gray
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 19 November, 2008
Text Updated: 28 October, 2017
Price: $35
Size: 5"
Composition: HHeLiBeBCNOFNeNaMg AlSiPSClArKCaScTiVCrMn FeCoNiCuZnGaGeAsSeBrKr RbSrYZrNbMoTcRuRhPdAg CdInSnSbTeIXeCsBaLaCePr NdPmSmEuGdTbDyHoErTm YbLuHfTaWReOsIrPtAuHgTl PbBiPoAtRnFrRaAcThPaUNp PuAmCmBkCfEsFmMdNoLrRf DbSgBhHsMtDsRgCnNhFlMcLvTsOg
The Elements book Mad Science book Periodic Table Poster  Click here to buy a book, photographic periodic table poster, card deck, or 3D print based on the images you see here!