deionized water, and a nebulizer is then used to aerosolize the product. Reduction by Hydrogen Gas: A solution of curium trichloride is evaporated to dryness with pure nitric acid to produce curium nitrate. The curium nitrate is then ignited in air, producing curium oxide, believed to be an intermediate structure between CmO2 and the formation of Cm2O3. The intermediate is scraped into capillary tubes attached to a vacuum system and reduced with gaseous hydrogen - the result of the combustion of UH3. Obtaining Curium-244: For many of the reactions described above, curium metal is provided by an outside retailer. In order to obtain curium metal, 239Pu metal can be sent through the pile irradiation process described by the radioactive decay processes below (note that neutrons are indicated by the letter "n" and beta-minus particles by "β−"): 239Pu + n ---> 240Pu + n ---> 241Pu + n ---> 242Pu + n ---> 243Pu+ β− ---> 243Am + n ---> 244Am + β− ---> 244Cu. However, 244curium is one of the more unstable curium isotopes, so any structural data obtained for compounds containing 244Cm may deviate from the expected as a result of structural damage. It has been experimentally determined that, within one day, 244CmO2's lattice parameter increases by a factor of 0.2%. This has been hypothesized to be a result of the weakening interatomic interactions between curium(IV) and the neighboring oxide groups as a result of alpha-decay. This affects the thermal conductivity of curium oxides, causing it to exponentially decrease over time as the effects of alpha-decay strengthen. Abnormal phase transitions have also been reported and have been theorized to be a result of induced self-irradiation, either by 244Cm or the presence of leftover 244Am from incomplete radioactive decay. Structure The body-centered cubic and monoclinic forms are the most common polymorphic forms of curium trioxide, produced by the chemical reactions detailed above. Their crystalline structures are very similar. One of the polymorphs of curium trioxide - the body-centered cubic form - spontaneously transforms to the hexagonal form after several weeks. This transformation is undergone upon spontaneous 244Cm alpha decay, which produces radiation damage effects within the cubic crystal lattice to distort it to that of hexagonal. Although not experimentally proven, there is speculation that monoclinic curium trioxide may be an intermediate form in between the transformation of the cubic form to that of the hexagonal. The body-centered cubic form of