the.com/americium
the man-made metal that quietly watches your kitchen for smoke and won't sleep on the job
means A synthetic radioactive metallic element (atomic number 95), best known for the tiny amount used in household ionization smoke detectors.
from Named for the Americas, where it was first made: it was synthesized in 1944 by a team at the University of California, Berkeley, during the Manhattan Project. The name follows the pattern of europium, the element above it in the periodic table — just as europium honors Europe, americium honors the continent of its discovery. The Latin-style '-ium' ending is the standard suffix marking a metallic element.
- in your home
- Sits inside most household smoke detectors
- born of bombs
- First made during the Manhattan Project
- named for
- The Americas, like europium honors Europe
- glows alone
- Pure samples glow from their own radioactivity
- long haul
- Half-life of americium-243 exceeds 7,000 years
for instance
americium-241 — isotope used in smoke detectors since 1974, emits alpha particles to ionize air