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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold and Silver Juniors, Mid-tiers and Producers
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From: E. Charters8/19/2006 5:44:42 AM
   of 78419
 
Americium -- A Seaborg element..

This element can be produced in kilogram amounts and has some uses (mostly 241Am since it is easier to produce relatively pure samples of this isotope). Americium has found its way into the household, where one type of smoke detector contains a tiny amount (about 0.2 milligrams) of 241Am as a source of ionizing radiation. 241Am has been used as a portable gamma ray source for use in radiography. The element has also been employed to gauge glass thickness to help create flat glass. 242Am is a neutron emitter and has found uses in neutron radiography. However this isotope is extremely expensive to produce in usable quantities.
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History

Americium was first synthesized by Glenn T. Seaborg, Leon O. Morgan, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso in late 1944 at the wartime Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago (now known as Argonne National Laboratory). The team created the isotope 241Am by subjecting 239Pu to successive neutron capture reactions in a nuclear reactor. This created 240Pu and then 241Pu which in turn decayed into 241Am via beta decay. Seaborg was granted patent 3,156,523 for "Element 95 and Method of Producing Said Element". The discovery of americium and curium was first announced informally on a children's quiz show in 1945. [1]

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