americium [Am]

Introduction

Named for the Americas where it was discovered. Americium-241 was identified in 1944 by Glenn T Seaborg, Ralph A James, Leon O Morgan, & Albert Ghiorso at the University of Chicago's wartime Metallurgical Laboratory, now Argonne National Laboratory.

Occurrence

• produced by bombardment of plutonium with high energy neutrons
• does NOT occur naturally

Characteristics

• white-silvery solid metal
• tarnishes slowly in dry air
• highly radioactive emitting intense alpha-radiation (dangerous)

Uses

• Am-241 is made in large quantities in nuclear reactors
  • available to qualified users in the USA & the UK
• portable source of X-rays
• source of ionization for smoke detectors
• radioactive glass thickness gauge for the flat glass industry

More general terms

• actinide
• radioactive element

Additional terms

• periodic table

Database

• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=23966
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=104276
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=167241
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=166958
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=105139
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=186130
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=169044
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=167699
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=167554
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=167537
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=167425
• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=167380