Talk:Thorium

Comments on Production and chemical

I have had a look at the production and chemical section.

Production- the greenwood reference quotes the reduction of ThO2 and ThCl4 (not the fluoride) with Ca

• Oxidation states- for TlH₂ its formal oxidation nstate as the compound is metallic (higher conductivity than the metal apparently) with electrons in a conduction band indicating a higher oxidation state than +2. TlS another metallic compound but would be another example of formal oxidation state of +2. The molecular species TlBr seems to be the only example of ox. state of +1 but its hardly a good example. The +3 state example is also dodgy as ThBr₃ does not appear to have been characterised.
  • Since they're not terribly good examples, I've changed it to just a simple mention that there are a few compounds where Th has a lower formal oxidation state. Double sharp (talk) 14:30, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
• Coordination numbers – The CN of Th⁴⁺ are high- it is a big cation-- this is a major feature of Th structural chemistry, some small mention of it. The nitrate pentahydrate was the first known example of 11 coordination found, see Greenwood p1276. The oxalate tetrahydrate is 10 coordinate. The Th(NO₃)₆ ^2- anion in the calcium and magnesium salts is 12 coordinate see Simon Cotton Lanthanide and actinide chemistry section 11.6.2
• Aqueous chemistry- There is no mention of redox potentials which indicate the unlikelihood of Th(III) compounds in aqueous solution. The actinide article says Th³⁺ solutions are blue (?) and quotes Greenwood, the paper NNG quotes was criticised later and the concensus now seems to be that Th³⁺ does not exist. Th⁴⁺ hydrolyses readily at > pH4 forming various polymeric forms, ultimately culminating in gelatinous hydroxide. All a bit murky with lots of conflicting data on the exact nature of the polymers. Yes hydrolysis isn't quite as ready as that of Fe³⁺, it is weaker but is real. Wickleder 119.
• Th⁴⁺ is a hard lewis acid (hard soft acid base theory) - favours hard ligands - e.g. O donors, complexes with S donors being less stable Simon Cotton Lanthanide and actinide chemistry section 11.4
• Th₄H₁₅ is only element with a known higher hydride. (i.e. higher than MH₃) ref Lester Morss doi 10.3286/tr.200901
• Organometallic- The wickleder chapter is very light on these compounds, as they are dealt with elsewhere in the book. See Simon Cotton's book for e.g. tetrabenzylthorium, Th(CH₂C₆H₅) ( known but structure has not been determined); the salt [Li(tmeda)]₃ [Th(CH₃)₇] and Th(CH₃)₄ adducts stabilised by phosphine ligands.

Axiosaurus (talk) 17:30, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Thorium's viability as commercial nuclear fuel

Here's one more http://www.ne.anl.gov/pdfs/NuclearEnergyFAQ.pdf:

Why shouldn’t we use thorium reactor plants? Aren’t they safer than uranium-fueled reactors?

We may use the thorium cycle some day when uranium runs low, or in countries with little uranium. But uranium fuel technology (especially recycling) is much more developed than thorium technology and therefore more commercially viable. All of the arguments commonly made in favor of thorium reactors are also true for advanced uranium reactors, including the safety arguments, and uranium advanced reactors are far closer to commercialization than are reactors

using thorium technology, so there are no strong reasons to abandon uranium in favor of thorium.

86.127.138.234 (talk) 15:09, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Added the source. Thank you! Double sharp (talk) 15:28, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Thorium Space Ship Ausgestellt Hannover Messe Jahr 2015

Wer investiert in die Space Materialforschung bis zum Jahr 2020 50 Milliarden Dollar? Im Kern geht es darum Materialien zu entwickeln, auf der Erde, auf dem Mond, auf dem Mars, im Sonnensystem, welche geeignet sind im Sonnensystem zu existieren bei den dortigen realen wissenschaftlichen Bedingungen (Vakuum, Temperaturen um den absoluten Nullpunkt, Elektromagnetische Strahlung der Sonne und Sonnenwinde). Wie ist der derzeitige F&E-Stand der Wissenschaft und der Industrie/Handwerk (Hannover Messe 2015, April)? Haben die besten deutschen 1000 Unternehmen in diesen Bereich schon investiert und wie ist der Stand der produzierten Produkte? Auf der Hannover Messe April 2015 stellen die besten Deutschen Unternehmen jeweil ein von ihnen entwickeltes und produziertes Produkt vor. Zum Beispiel muss es Industrielacke (Airbus 380) geben die Temperaturen von minus 270 Grad Celsius enthalten und im Inneren eines Thorium Space Ship (Technischer praktischer Konstruktionsplan?) muss es Materialien geben die Temperaturen widerstehen bis zu 1 Million Grad Celsius Plus. Welche Materialien produzieren die Weltraumorganisationen NASA ESA und Russland, Indien, Japan, China? Statoil Airport Bergen Norway 143.97.213.134 (talk) 06:53, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

Tig Electrodes

I was surprised to see that the section on applications doesn't list thoriated tungsten TIG welding electrodes. I am not a welder so I think it would be best if someone who knows more about this could add information about this application. --Sbreheny (talk) 16:40, 25 March 2015 (UTC)