What element has a mass of 239?
Plutonium
Plutonium is a radioactive actinide metal whose isotope, plutonium-239, is one of the three primary fissile isotopes (uranium-233 and uranium-235 are the other two); plutonium-241 is also highly fissile.
What is the critical mass of plutonium-239?
approximately 10 kg
The critical mass of a bare sphere of uranium-235 at normal density is approximately 47 kg (104 pounds); for plutonium-239, critical mass is approximately 10 kg (22 pounds).
Is uranium 239 unstable?
What happens more frequently is that a neutron capture causes the nucleus to become unstable. After a few days, uranium 239 has transformed into plutonium 239, a radioisotope with a half-life of 24,000 years. Plutonium 239 is highly fissile and can also be used as a nuclear fuel or an atomic explosive.
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.
What is the half-life of uranium 239?
Uranium-239 is an isotope of uranium. It is usually produced by exposing 238U to neutron radiation in a nuclear reactor. 239U has a half-life of about 23.45 minutes and decays into neptunium-239 through beta decay, with a total decay energy of about 1.29 MeV .
What does kind of reactor produce plutonium 239?
The initial codename for the Magnox reactor design amongst the government agency which mandated it, the UKAEA, was the Pressurised Pile Producing Power and Plutonium(PIPPA) and as this codename suggests, the reactor was designed as both a power plant and, when operated with low fuel “burn-up”; as a producer of plutonium-239 for the nascent nuclear weapons program in Britain.
What is plutonium 239 used for?
Plutonium-239 is the primary fissile isotope used for the production of nuclear weapons, although uranium-235 has also been used. Plutonium-239 is also one of the three main isotopes demonstrated usable as fuel in thermal spectrum nuclear reactors, along with uranium-235 and uranium-233.
What is the nuclear decay equation for plutonium 239?
This process is known as radioactive decay. Plutonium-239 releases energy of around 5.245 MeV through radioactive decay. Plutonium-239 Decay Equation. The following equation shows the alpha decomposition of Plutonium-239: 94 239 Pu → 92 235 U + 2 4 He. Here the helium nucleus 2 4 He has got atomic number 2 and mass number 4. Helium here denotes the alpha particle. Hence this equation can also be written as. 94 239 Pu → 92 235 U + α. Plutonium-239 Decay Chain
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