CALIFORNIUM

Once upon a time, many millions of years ago, perhaps it was that some traces of Californium existed naturally on Earth; except for utterly minute traces from human activity. Californium has a half life, at most, of nearly 900 years, making its primordial presence long of times gone by. But at some point, in Gabon in wetern Africa, a natural nuclear reactor seemed to do the job that nuclear reactors do today - flinging neutrons at uranium nuclei to either have them change into new elements or break down into other ones. So it seems possible that some quantities of californium were produced as a result. But obviously not now.

Although nobody seemed too annoyed that four different elements were named for the same town in Sweden, some people smirked at how Americium, Berkelium and Californium, all named by their discoverer, Glenn Seaborg of the University of Berkeley in California, USA, were a bit gratuitous. Californium's most important isotopes have one property that make them particularly unsuitable for an element collection - they emit neutrons happily, with the potential to alter the elements in the glass and in the other vials and maybe you. But still, neutrons in this manner can be quite useful for detecting important things - like water and oil and explosives. But still, it's one octave too high for the element collection in my little old possession. So here's a fusion route and some glowy powder.

I have heard some speculation that trinitite may contain traces of californium too. It seems possible but I wouldn't say I am in the position to confirm or deny this. And that is also to say - the lid label has mis-spelled the element as 'Caliornium' without an 'f'. I hope to fix this in the future. I hope the ghost of Glenn Seaborg doesn't look at me with contempt.