A synthetic, radioactive element, curium is a hard, dense metal with a silvery-white appearance and physical and chemical properties resembling those of gadolinium. Its melting point of 1344 °C is significantly higher than that of the previous transuranic elements neptunium (637 °C), plutonium (639 °C) and americium (1173 °C). In comparison, gadolinium melts at 1312 °C. The boiling point of curium is 3556 °C. With a density of 13.52 g/cm3, curium is significantly lighter than neptunium (20.45 g/cm3) and plutonium (19.8 g/cm3), but is heavier than most other metals. Between two crystalline forms of curium, the α-Cm is more stable at ambient conditions. It has a hexagonal symmetry, space group P63/mmc, lattice parameters "a" = 365 pm and "c" = 1182 pm, and four formula units per unit cell. The crystal consists of a double-hexagonal close packing with the layer sequence ABAC and so is isotypic with α-lanthanum. At pressures above 23 GPa, at room temperature, α-Cm transforms into β-Cm, which has a face-centered cubic symmetry, space group Fmm and the lattice constant "a" = 493 pm. Upon further compression to 43 GPa, curium transforms to an orthorhombic γ-Cm structure similar to that of α-uranium, with no further transitions observed up to 52 GPa. These three curium phases are also referred to as Cm I, II and III.