What does CF 252 decay into?
Californium-252 is a very strong neutron emitter, which makes it extremely radioactive and harmful. Californium-252 undergoes alpha decay 96.9% of the time to form curium-248 while the remaining 3.1% of decays are spontaneous fission.
What does californium decay into?
curium-247
Californium’s most stable isotope, californium-251, has a half-life of about 898 years. It decays into curium-247 through alpha decay or decays through spontaneous fission.
What is californium isotope?
Californium (98Cf) is an artificial element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes. There are 20 known radioisotopes ranging from 237Cf to 256Cf and one nuclear isomer, 249mCf. The longest-lived isotope is 251Cf with a half-life of 898 years.
What is the isotope californium-252 used for?
Californium-252 is used in a number of applications due to its radioactive properties, including Portable Isotopic Neutron Spectroscopy (PINS), Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA), scanners, reactor start-up rods, and more.
How much does californium-252 cost?
Californium is another radioactive element, used primarily in research and in instruments employed in the petroleum industry. A gram of californium-252 can cost $27 million per gram, which makes it considerably more expensive than lutetium, but less than francium.
What is the normal phase of californium?
Data Zone
| Classification: | Californium is an actinide metal |
|---|---|
| Color: | silvery-white |
| Atomic weight: | (251), no stable isotopes |
| State: | solid |
| Melting point: | 900 oC, 1173 K |
How do you identify californium?
Californium is a synthetic, radioactive element not found in nature. It is an actinide: one of 15 radioactive, metallic elements found at the bottom of the periodic table. The pure metal is silvery-white, malleable and so soft it can be easily sliced with a razor blade. Californium is moderately chemically reactive.
What kind of decay does californium 252 have?
It decays either by α-particle emission or by spontaneous fission with a branching ratio of 96.9% to 3.1%. It is a highly prolific neutron emitter with a spectrum of energies similar to that produced by nuclear reactors.
How long does a 252 Cf source last?
A source used in 252 Cf-PD contains about 0.5 μg of 252 Cf and, when located to within a few millimetres of a sample, will deliver 2000–3000 fission fragments into the sample per second. The useful life of the source in a 252 Cf-PD mass spectrometer is of the order of 4 years.
What is the process of self transfer of 252 Cf?
A carrier-free sample of 252 Cf is electroplated onto a thin nickel foil in the form of a small circular spot with a diameter of 3 mm and is then sealed with a thin nickel foil to contain the 252 Cf. (Fission fragment tracks formed in the source eject 252 Cf atoms from the source; a process called self-transfer.)
How is Californium 252 used in the treatment of cancer?
252 Cf sources offer a means of performing brachytherapy with neutrons. Conceptually, this is intriguing for tumors in which hypoxia is thought to be a factor in limiting tumor control with standard treatment and which lend themselves to brachytherapy approaches.
