Question

The half-life of americium-241 is 485 years and decays via a-emission where only one other daughter nuclide (other than the a-particle) is produced.

(a) Write the balanced nuclear equation for this decay process. Use full isotopic symbols (~X).

(b) How many kilograms of the daughter will be produced in 800. years if 5.0 kg of Am-241 is
allowed to decay? Assume that the atomic masses of both nuclides are given by their mass
numbers and that the daughter nuclide does not decay further on this timescale.

Answer 1

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