n be prepared by the thermal decomposition of uranium halides on a hot filament.
Uranium metal reacts with almost all nonmetallic elements and their compounds, with reactivity increasing with temperature. Hydrochloric and nitric acids dissolve uranium, but non-oxidizing acids other than hydrochloric acid attack the element very slowly. When finely divided, it can react with cold water. In air, uranium metal oxidizes and becomes coated with a dark layer of uranium oxide. Uranium forms a variety of alloys and compounds with the most important oxidation states being uranium(IV) and uranium(VI), and their two corresponding oxides are, respectively, uranium dioxide, UO2 and uranium trioxide, UO3. Besides the oxides, other Important uranium compounds include fluorides, chlorides, bromides, iodides, carbonates, hydrides, carbides, nitrides, phosphates, etc. At room temperatures, uranium hexafluoride, UF6, has a high vapor pressure, making it useful in the gaseous diffusion process used to separate the rare U-235 from the common U-238 isotope. Uranium hydrides, nitrides and carbides are relatively inert semimetallic compounds that are minimally soluble in acids and have been used as stable fuel pellets in nuclear power reactor technology.
Uranium exists in aqueous solutions in the +3, +4, +5, and +6 oxidation states. Oxidation state +6 as the UO22+ ion (yellow in color) is the most stable state in solution. Uranium in the +5 state as the UO2+ ion is colorless, quite unstable and disproportionates (reacts with itself) to form the +6 and +4 states. The +4 state (green) is reasonably stable in solution, but the +3 state (dark green or dark red depending on the illumination source - daylight vs fluorescent light) is unstable and easily oxidizes to +4. The +4 state in near-neutral pH solutions readily hydrolyzes to form black oxy-hydroxide precipitates.
Uranium was used in as coloring agents in ceramic glazes and glass in ancient Rome and in the Middle Ages producing orange-red to lemon yellow hues. More recently it was used as an orange glaze in contemporary Fiestaware© dishware but was later discontinued for health reasons. Many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties. Uranium-235 has the distinction of being the only naturally occurring fissile isotope. This means it can be split into two or three fragments (fission products) by thermal neutrons. Uranium-238 is fissionable by fast neutrons, and is fertile, meaning it can be transmuted to fissile plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor. Another fissile isotope, uranium-233, can be produced from natural thorium and is also important in nuclear technology. While uranium-238 has a small probability for spontaneous fission or even induced fission with fast neutrons, uranium-235 and to a lesser degree uranium-233 have a much higher fission cross-section for slow neutrons. In sufficient concentration, these isotopes maintain a sustained nuclear chain reaction. This generates the heat in nuclear power reactors, and produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons. This nuclear conversion can be brought about in breeder reactors where it is possible to produce more new fissionable material than the fissionable material used in maintaining the chain reaction. Depleted uranium (238U) (depleted of uranium-235) is used in balistic armor penetration and as armor plating.
Uranium-238 is not fissile, but is a fertile isotope, because after neutron activation it can produce plutonium-239, another fissile isotope. Indeed, the238U nucleus can absorb one neutron to produce the radioactive isotope uranium-239. 239U decays by beta emission to neptunium-239, also a beta-emitter, that decays in its turn, within a few days into plutonium-239. 239Pu was used as fissile material in the first atomic bomb detonated in the "Trinity test" on 15 July 1945 in New Mexico.
Uranium-235 is of even greater importance because it is the key to utilizing uranium. 235U, while occurring in natural uranium to the extent of only 0.71%, is so fissionable with slow neutrons that a self-sustaining fission