americium
Americannoun
noun
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Symbol Am A synthetic, silvery-white, radioactive metallic element of the actinide series that is produced artificially by bombarding plutonium with neutrons. Americium is used as a source of alpha particles for smoke detectors and gamma rays for industrial gauges. Its most stable isotope has a half-life of 7,950 years. Atomic number 95; specific gravity 11.7; valence 3, 4, 5, 6.
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See Periodic Table
Etymology
Origin of americium
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Two of nuclear waste’s most problematic ingredients are metals called americium and curium; each has particularly long-lived forms that decay slowly over thousands of years.
From Scientific American • Dec. 28, 2021
Spent fuel rods contain a variety of products, consisting of unstable nuclei ranging in atomic number from 25 to 60, some transuranium elements, including plutonium and americium, and unreacted uranium isotopes.
From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019
Monitors at the federal Hanford Nuclear site found plutonium and americium contamination up to 10 miles from a troubled demolition project that was suspended in December due to concerns about the spread of radioactive particles.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 25, 2018
Smoke detectors work thanks to a tiny trace of americium, the next element after plutonium.
From BBC • Sep. 19, 2014
The workers inhaled plutonium and americium, which if lodged in the body bombards internal organs with subatomic particles for the rest of the person’s lifetime.
From New York Times • Feb. 28, 2014
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
