 the actinide  or actinoid  (iupac nomenclature) series encompasses the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103, actinium through lawrencium.actinide element, encyclopÃ¦dia britannica on-linealthough "actinoid" (rather than "actinide") means "actinium-like" and therefore should exclude actinium, that element is usually included in the series. the actinide series derives its name from the first element in the series, actinium. the informal chemical symbol an is used in general discussions of actinide chemistry to refer to any actinide. all but one of the actinides are f-block elements, corresponding to the filling of the 5f electron shell; lawrencium, a d-block element, is also generally considered an actinide. in comparison with the lanthanides, also mostly f-block elements, the actinides show much more variable valence. they all have very large atomic and ionic radii and exhibit an unusually large range of physical properties. while actinium and the late actinides (from americium onwards) behave similarly to the lanthanides, the elements thorium through neptunium are much more similar to transition metals in their chemistry. of the actinides, primordial thorium and uranium occur naturally in substantial quantities and small amounts of persisting natural plutonium have also been identified. the radioactive decay of uranium produces transient amounts of actinium and protactinium, and atoms of neptunium, americium, curium, berkelium and californium are occasionally produced from transmutation reactions in uranium ores. the other actinides are purely synthetic elements.greenwood, p. 1250 nuclear weapons tests have released at least six actinides heavier than plut
Actinides Periodic_table