Americium

Americium (Am) #95

History ﻿Americium was discovered in late 1944 by Glenn T. Seaborg, Leon O. Morgan, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso. The symbol is "Am," and it is an abbreviation for the name.

Physical Facts Americium's Atomic Number is 95, and its Atomic Mass is 243 amu. It has 95 protons and electrons, and 148 neutrons. Americium is not found in nature, but instead is artificially produced from Plutonium-239. It's natural state is a solid metal. The melting point is 1176 degrees Celsius, and the boiling point is 2011 degrees Celsius. There is no abundance in Earth's crust. 

Uses Americium's main use is in smoke detectors. How it works is this: The americium emits alpha particles and low energy gamma rays. The alpha particles that americium creates collide with the oxygen and nitrogen in the air in a chamber to produce ions. These ions run through a chamber; this causes two electrodes to become charged. When smoke attaches to the ions and goes through the electric current of the electrodes, they are neutralized. This causes the number of ions present, and therefore the electric current, to fall, setting of an alarm.

Interesting Facts Americium is an //**isotope.***// It has a hexagonal structure, and is of a silver color. Americium has a half-life of 432.7 years. Americium's most stable isotope is Americium-243, which has a half-life of 7,370 years and decays into Neptunium-243. Americium is manmade and radioactive, leaving it few practical uses.

*Atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons; the different possible versions of each element are called **//isotopes. //**

Sources [] [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[|www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/isotopes/index.html] []

This page created by Kadie Elmore