How many meta states does the first isotope to be synthesized in Am in 1944 have?
Americium-241 Americium-241 (Am) is an isotope of americium. Like all isotopes of americium, it is radioactive. Am is the most common isotope of americium. It is the most prevalent isotope of americium in nuclear waste. Americium-241 has a half-life of 432.2 years. It is commonly found in ionization type smoke detectors. It is a potential fuel for long-lifetime radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). Its common parent nuclides are β from Pu, EC from Cm and α from Bk. Am is fissile and the critical mass of a bare sphere is 57.6-75.6 kilograms and a sphere diameter of 19–21 centimeters. Americium-241 has a specific activity of 3.43 Ci/g (curies per gram or 117.29 gigabequerels (GBq) per gram). It is commonly found in the form of americium-241 dioxide (AmO). This isotope also has one meta state; Am, with an exitation energy of 2.2 MeV, and a half-life of 1.23 μs. Its presence in plutonium is determined by the original concentration of plutonium-241 and the sample age. Because of the low penetration of alpha radiation, americium-241 only poses a health risk when ingested or inhaled. Older samples of plutonium containing plutonium-241 contain a buildup of Am. A chemical removal of americium-241 from reworked plutonium (e.g. during reworking of plutonium pits) may be required in some cases.
Big Bang nucleosynthesis In physical cosmology, Big Bang nucleosynthesis (abbreviated BBN, also known as primordial nucleosynthesis, arch(a)eonucleosynthesis, archonucleosynthesis, protonucleosynthesis and pal(a)eonucleosynthesis) refers to the production of nuclei other than those of the lightest isotope of hydrogen (hydrogen-1, H, having a single proton as a nucleus) during the early phases of the Universe. Primordial nucleosynthesis is believed by most cosmologists to have taken place in the interval from roughly 10 seconds to 20 minutes after the Big Bang, and is calculated to be responsible for the formation of most of the universe's helium as the isotope helium-4 (He), along with small amounts of the hydrogen isotope deuterium (H or D), the helium isotope helium-3 (He), and a very small amount of the lithium isotope lithium-7 (Li). In addition to these stable nuclei, two unstable or radioactive isotopes were also produced: the heavy hydrogen isotope tritium (H or T); and the beryllium isotope beryllium-7 (Be); but these unstable isotopes later decayed into He and Li, as above.