What does 239 mean in plutonium?
What does 239 mean in plutonium?
plutonium 239 – a highly fissionable isotope of plutonium that is used in atomic weapons and as a reactor fuel; produced by irradiating uranium 238 with slow electrons.
What elements make up plutonium-239?
Plutonium-239 is virtually nonexistent in nature. It is made by bombarding uranium-238 with neutrons in a nuclear reactor. Uranium-238 is present in quantity in most reactor fuel; hence plutonium-239 is continuously made in these reactors.
How do you make plutonium 239?
Nuclear properties The fissioning of an atom of uranium-235 in the reactor of a nuclear power plant produces two to three neutrons, and these neutrons can be absorbed by uranium-238 to produce plutonium-239 and other isotopes. Plutonium-239 can also absorb neutrons and fission along with the uranium-235 in a reactor.
How is U 239 different from U 238?
In what ways is it different from U-238? U-239 is an isotope of uranium. It has one more neutron in the nucleus than U-238.
Who discovered plutonium-239?
Glenn T. Seaborg
Plutonium was discovered in 1941 by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg and Edwin McMillan, Kennedy, and Wahl by deuteron bombardment of uranium in the 60-inch cyclotron of the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, but the discovery was kept secret.
What is the half life of plutonium 239?
Isotopes of plutonium (Pu, atomic number 94) are generated by neutron capture in uranium-238 or thorium-232. Plutonium-239 (half-life 24,110 years) is of greatest concern because it is fissionable.
What is the difference between uranium-235 and plutonium-239?
The fissioning of an atom of uranium-235 in the reactor of a nuclear power plant produces two to three neutrons, and these neutrons can be absorbed by uranium-238 to produce plutonium-239 and other isotopes. Plutonium-239 can also absorb neutrons and fission along with the uranium-235 in a reactor.
What is the mass number of Typical isotopes of plutonium?
Mass numbers of typical isotopes of Plutonium are 239, 240, 241, 244. Atomic Mass of Plutonium Atomic mass of Plutonium is 244 u. The atomic mass is the mass of an atom.
What is the difference between plutonium 242 and 244?
Plutonium-242 is not fissile, not very fertile (requiring 3 more neutron captures to become fissile), has a low neutron capture cross section, and a longer half-life than any of the lighter isotopes. Plutonium-244 is the most stable isotope of plutonium, with a half-life of about 80 million years.
