What is americium used for?
Americium is a silvery, shiny radioactive metal. Americium is commonly used in smoke alarms, but has few other uses. It has the potential to be used in spacecraft batteries in the future. Currently plutonium is used but availability is poor so alternatives are being considered.
Can you touch americium?
You may be exposed by breathing, eating, or drinking the substance, or by skin contact. However, since americium is radioactive, you can also be exposed to its radiation if you are near it. External or internal exposure to radiation may occur from natural or man-made sources.
What element has 159 neutrons?
seaborgium 265
For example, seaborgium 265, which has a nucleus containing 106 protons and 159 neutrons, decays to rutherfordium 261, which decays to nobelium 257.
Who made Berkelium?
Berkelium was first produced in December 1949, at the University of California at Berkeley, and was made by Stanley Thompson, Albert Ghiorso, and Glenn Seaborg. They took americium-241, which had first been made in 1944, and bombarded it with helium nuclei (alpha particles) for several hours in the 60-inch cyclotron.
Can you make a nuclear reactor with americium?
It is shown that because of the small fission cross-section in the neutron spectrum of a fast reactor all of the americium cannot be directly converted into fission products. This can be done only by transmutation of americium into plutonium, which must be separated and directed into fuel, where it will burn.
How long does the americium last in a smoke detector?
432.2 years
The isotope of americium used in smoke detectors is americium-241, which decays by α emission to neptunium-237 with a half-life of 432.2 years.
Can I buy americium?
Americium is the only man-made element which is legal to posses, and the amazing part is that you can buy it for less than $10 at any hardware store.
Where is CF on the periodic table?
californium (Cf), synthetic chemical element of the actinoid series of the periodic table, atomic number 98.
Is it legal to own americium?
How many isotopes does americium have?
19 isotopes
About 19 isotopes and 8 nuclear isomers are known for americium. There are two long-lived alpha-emitters, 241Am and 243Am with half-lives of 432.2 and 7,370 years, respectively, and the nuclear isomer 242Am has a half-life of 141 years.