Americium Properties

Description

Americium is a radioactive transuranic element. It was first produced in 1944 by the group of Glenn T. Seaborg at the University of California, Berkeley. It is widely used in commercial ionization chamber smoke detectors, as well as in neutron sources and industrial gauges. Several unusual applications, such as a nuclear battery or fuel for space ships with nuclear propulsion, have been proposed for the isotope ^242mAm, but they are as yet hindered by the scarcity and high price of this nuclear isomer.