Appearance and Characteristics
Harmful effects:
Americium is harmful due to its radioactivity.
Characteristics:
Americium is a silvery-white highly radioactive metal that has a density similar to lead. It tarnishes slowly in dry air at room temperature. Isotope 241Am, the most common isotope, decays to 237Np, emitting alpha and gamma radiation(1).
Uses of Americium
Isotope 241Am is used (in the form of americium dioxide) in very small amounts in ‘ionization chamber’ smoke detectors. One gram of americium dioxide provides enough active material for more than three million household smoke detectors(2).
Americium is used as a portable source of gamma rays and alpha particles for use in medicine, science and industry.
It is also used as a target material in nuclear research to make even heavier elements.