New Low Mass Isotopes of Emanation (Element 86)
Among the spallation products obtained from the 350-Mev proton bombardment of Th{sup 232} they have identified two gaseous alpha-emitters which apparently do not decay into any presently known alpha-decay chains. The half-lives observed for the decay of the alpha-activities are 23 minutes and 2.1 hours. These half-lives may be principally determined by an unknown amount of orbital electron capture. At least one alpha-emitting daughter (about 4 hours half-life) has been observed to grow from a gaseous parent, but it has not been determined whether it arises from alpha-decay or electron-capture. Since these gaseous atoms emit alpha-particles it is assumed that they are isotopes of element 86 (emanation or radon) rather than a lighter rare gas. if they were heavy isotopes such as Em{sup 221} or Em{sup 223}, both unknown, they would decay into known alpha-decay series, the neptunium and actinium series, respectively, and so would grow known short lived alpha-emitters which would have been detected. It thus appears reasonable that they must be lighter than the known emanation isotopes.
- Research Organization:
- Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USAEC
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 932506
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL--438; AECU-460
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Low Mass Francium and Emanation Isotopes of High AlphaStability
ALPHA-EMITTERS WITH SHORT HALF-LIFE INDUCED BY PROTONS ON HEAVY ELEMENTS