Artificial element in the context of Isotopes of plutonium


Artificial element in the context of Isotopes of plutonium

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👉 Artificial element in the context of Isotopes of plutonium

Plutonium (94Pu) is an artificial element, except for trace quantities resulting from neutron capture by uranium, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes. It was synthesized before being found in nature, with the first isotope synthesized being Pu in 1940. Twenty-two plutonium radioisotopes have been characterized. The most stable are Pu with a half-life of 81.3 million years; Pu with a half-life of 375,000 years; Pu with a half-life of 24,110 years; and Pu with a half-life of 6,561 years. This element also has eight meta states; all have half-lives of less than one second.

The known isotopes of plutonium range from Pu to Pu. The primary decay modes before the most stable isotope, Pu, are spontaneous fission and alpha decay; the primary mode after is beta emission. The primary decay products before Pu are isotopes of uranium and neptunium (not considering fission products), and the primary decay products after are isotopes of americium.

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Artificial element in the context of Neptunium-238

Neptunium (93Np) is usually considered an artificial element, although trace quantities are found in nature, so a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all trace or artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized and identified was Np in 1940, produced by bombarding
U
with neutrons to produce
U
, which then underwent beta decay to
Np
.

Trace quantities are found in nature from neutron capture reactions by uranium atoms, a fact not discovered until 1951.

View the full Wikipedia page for Neptunium-238
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