plutonium-241
Sign in to saveAlso known as Pu-241, 241Pu, Plutonium 241
Plutonium-241 (', Pu-241') is an isotope of plutonium formed when plutonium-240 captures a neutron. Like some other plutonium isotopes (especially 239Pu), 241Pu is fissile, with a neutron absorption cross section about one-third greater than that of 239Pu, and a similar probability of fissioning on neutron absorption, around 73%. In the non-fission case, neutron capture produces plutonium-242. In general, isotopes with an odd number of neutrons are both more likely to absorb a neutron and more likely to undergo fission on neutron absorption than isotopes with an even number of neutrons.
Key facts
- Isotope.symbol
- Pu
- Isotope.mass_number
- 241
- Isotope.mass
- 241.056850
- Isotope.num_neutrons
- 147
- Isotope.num_protons
- 94
- Isotope.abundance
- 0 (synthetic)
- Isotope.decay_product
- Americium-241
- Isotope.decay_symbol
- Am
- Isotope.decay_mass
- 241
- Isotope.decay_mode1
- β−
- Isotope.decay_energy1
- 0.0208
- Isotope.decay_mode2
- α
- Isotope.decay_energy2
- 5.140
- Isotope.decay_product2
- Uranium-237
- Isotope.decay_symbol2
- U
- Isotope.decay_mass2
- 237
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
2 sectionsContents
- Decay properties
- References
Plutonium-241 (', Pu-241') is an isotope of plutonium formed when plutonium-240 captures a neutron. Like some other plutonium isotopes (especially 239Pu), 241Pu is fissile, with a neutron absorption cross section about one-third greater than that of 239Pu, and a similar probability of fissioning on neutron absorption, around 73%. In the non-fission case, neutron capture produces plutonium-242. In general, isotopes with an odd number of neutrons are both more likely to absorb a neutron and more likely to undergo fission on neutron absorption than isotopes with an even number of neutrons.
==Decay properties== thumb|left|Process of successive neutron capture from 239Pu through 245Cm, including 241Pu.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “plutonium-241” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.