ACTINIDES:

Actinides are elements with atomic numbers from 90 to 103 following element

Actinium. They include naturally occurring elements of thorium, protactinium and
uranium and eleven transuranic i.e., artificially produced by nuclear reactions.
Nevertheless, all actinides are radioactive.
The general electronic configuration of actinides is [Rn] 5f1-14 6d0-1 7s2. The energy of 5f
and 6d electrons are close to each other and so electrons enter into the 5f orbital.

PROPERTIES OF ACTINIDES:
 The atomic size/ ionic radii of tri positive actinides ions decrease steadily from Th
to Lw due to increasing nuclear charge and electrons entering the inner (n-2) f
orbital. This gradual decrease in the size with an increasing atomic number is
 called actinide contraction like lanthanide contraction. Because of the very poor
shielding by 5f electrons, contraction is larger along the period.
 Actinides like lanthanides ions have electrons in f-orbital and also empty orbitals
like the d-block elements. When a frequency of light is absorbed, the f-f electron
transition produces a visible colour. Form colored complexes.
 The actinides have lower ionization enthalpies than lanthanides because 5f
electrons are more effectively shielded from nuclear charge than 4f.
 Actinides show variable oxidation states because of the smaller energy gap
between 5f, 6d and 7s orbitals. Though 3+ is the most stable oxidation state,
other oxidation states are possible because of the good shielding of f-electrons.
 The maximum oxidation state first increases up to the middle of the series and
then decreases i.e., it increases from +4 for Th to +5, +6 and +7 for Pa, V and Np
but decreases in the succeeding elements.
 Actinides are better complexing agents than lanthanides due to the smaller size
but higher nuclear charge. They can form Pπ – complexes as well.
Degree of complexion decreases in the order M  > MO  > M  > MO .
4+
2
2+ 3+
2
2+

 Because of the lower ionization energy, actinides are electropositive than

lanthanides and most reactive. They react with hot water. React with oxidizing
agents and form a passive coating. Form halides and hydrides. Actinides are
strong reducing agents.
 Density of Actinides: All actinides except thorium and americium have very high
densities.
 Melting and Boiling Points of Actinides: Actinides have high melting points like
lanthanides but there is no definite trend in the melting and boiling point of
lanthanides.
 Magnetic Properties of Actinides: All actinides are paramagnetic in nature,
which depends on the presence of unpaired electrons. The orbital angular
moment is quenched because of the shielding of 5f electrons so that the
observed magnetic moment is less than the calculated.

1. ACTINIUM:
Actinium is a chemical element with the symbol Ac and atomic number 89. Actinium
gave the name to the actinide series, a group of 15 similar elements between
actinium and lawrencium in the periodic table. Together with polonium, radium,
and radon, actinium was one of the first non-primordial radioactive elements to be
isolated.Its electronic configuration is [Rn] 6d1 7s2.
A soft, silvery-white radioactive metal, actinium reacts rapidly with oxygen and
moisture in air forming a white coating of actinium oxide that prevents further
oxidation.
1. Medicinal use:
 Owing to its scarcity, high price and radioactivity, 227-Ac currently has no
significant industrial use, but 225-Ac is currently being studied for use in
cancer treatments such as targeted alpha therapies.
 225-Ac is applied in medicine to produce 213-Bi in a reusable generator or can
be used alone as an agent for radiation therapy, in particular targeted alpha
therapy (TAT). This isotope has a half-life of 10 days, making it much more
suitable for radiation therapy than 213-Bi (half-life 46 minutes).
 Not only 225Ac itself, but also its daughters, emit alpha particles which kill
cancer cells in the body.
 The major difficulty with application of 225-Ac was that intravenous injection of
simple actinium complexes resulted in their accumulation in the bones and
liver for a period of tens of years.
 As a result, after the cancer cells were quickly killed by alpha particles
from 225-Ac, the radiation from the actinium and its daughters might induce
new mutations.
 To solve this problem, 225-Ac was bound to a chelating agent, such
as citrate, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or diethylene triamine
pentaacetic acid (DTPA).
 This reduced actinium accumulation in the bones, but the excretion from the
body remained slow.
 Much better results were obtained with such chelating agents as HEHA
or DOTA The latter delivery combination was tested on mice and proved to be
effective
against leukemia, lymphoma, breast, ovarian, neuroblastoma and prostate
cancers.

Chemical structure of the DOTA carrier for 225-Ac in radiation therapy.

2. Thermoelectric generators:
227-Ac is highly radioactive and was therefore studied for use as an active element
of radioisotope thermoelectric generators, for example in spacecraft.
3. Neutron source:
It has immense value as a neutron source as it is one fifty times more radioactive
than compared to radium.
The oxide of 227-Ac pressed with beryllium is also an efficient neutron source with
the activity exceeding that of the standard americium-beryllium and radium-beryllium
pairs.
4. Generates alpha-emitting isotopes:
In all those applications, 227-Ac (a beta source) is merely a progenitor which
generates alpha-emitting isotopes upon its decay. Beryllium captures alpha particles
and emits neutrons owing to its large cross-section for the (α,n) nuclear reaction:

5. In neutron probe:
 The 227-AcBe neutron sources can be applied in a neutron probe – a standard
device for measuring the quantity of water present in soil, as well as
moisture/density for quality control in highway construction.
 Such probes are also used in well logging applications, in neutron radiography,
tomography and other radiochemical investigations.
6. Use in oceanic waters:
The medium half-life of 227-Ac (21.77 years) makes it very convenient radioactive
isotope in modeling the slow vertical mixing of oceanic waters. The associated
processes cannot be studied with the required accuracy by direct measurements of
current velocities (of the order 50 meters per year). However, evaluation of the
concentration depth-profiles for different isotopes allows estimating the mixing rates.
The physics behind this method is as follows: oceanic waters contain homogeneously
dispersed  235U. Its decay product,  231Pa, gradually precipitates to the bottom, so that its
concentration first increases with depth and then stays nearly constant.  231Pa decays to  227Ac;
however, the concentration of the latter isotope does not follow the  231Pa depth profile, but instead
increases toward the sea bottom. This occurs because of the mixing processes which raise some
additional  227Ac from the sea bottom. Thus analysis of both  231Pa and  227Ac depth profiles allows
researchers to model the mixing behavior.[47][48]

7. Super-conductor:
There are theoretical predictions that AcHx hydrides (in this case with very high
pressure) are a candidate for a near room-temperature superconductor as they have
Tc significantly higher than H3S, possibly near 250 K.
 2. THORIUM:
Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with
the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it
is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and
has a high melting point.

1. Decline in non radioactivity related uses:

Non-radioactivity-related uses of thorium have been in decline since the
1950s due to environmental concerns largely stemming from the radioactivity of
thorium and its decay products.
2. In gas lamp mantles:
 Most thorium applications use its dioxide (sometimes called "thoria" in
the industry), rather than the metal. This compound has a melting point
of 3300 °C (6000 °F), the highest of all known oxides; only a few
substances have higher melting points. This helps the compound
remain solid in a flame, and it considerably increases the brightness of
the flame; this is the main reason thorium is used in gas lamp mantles. All
substances emit energy (glow) at high temperatures, but the light
emitted by thorium is nearly all in the visible spectrum, hence the
brightness of thorium mantles.
 It is as well used in toothpastes.
3. Emitted spectrum of thorium:
Energy, some of it in the form of visible light, is emitted when thorium is
exposed to a source of energy itself, such as a cathode ray, heat, or ultraviolet light.
This effect is shared by cerium dioxide, which converts ultraviolet light into visible
light more efficiently, but thorium dioxide gives a higher flame temperature, emitting
less infrared light. Thorium in mantles, though still common, has been progressively
replaced with yttrium since the late 1990s. 
4. Negative ion generators:
Thorium is also used to make cheap permanent negative ion generators, such
as in pseudoscientific health bracelets.
5. Aids recrystallization:
During the production of incandescent filaments, recrystallisation of tungsten is
significantly lowered by adding small amounts of thorium dioxide to the
tungsten sintering powder before drawing the filaments.
6. Causes reduction in work function:
 A small addition of thorium to tungsten thermocathodes considerably reduces
the work function of electrons; as a result, electrons are emitted at considerably lower
temperatures. Thorium forms a one-atom-thick layer on the surface of tungsten. The
work function from a thorium surface is lowered possibly because of the electric field
on the interface between thorium and tungsten formed due to thorium's greater
electropositivity.
7. In electronic tubes:
Thoriated tungsten wires have been used in electronic tubes and in the
cathodes and anticathodes of X-ray tubes and rectifiers.

8. Getter for impurities:

Due to the reactivity of thorium with atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen, thorium
also acts as a getter for impurities in the evacuated tubes.
9. In GTAW:
Thorium dioxide is used in gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) to increase the
high-temperature strength of tungsten electrodes and improve arc stability.
Thorium oxide is being replaced in this use with other oxides, such as those of
zirconium, cerium, and lanthanum.
10. In heat resistant ceramics:
Thorium dioxide is found in heat-resistant ceramics, such as high-temperature
laboratory crucibles, either as the primary ingredient or as an addition to zirconium
dioxide.

11. Catalyst:
 An alloy of 90% platinum and 10% thorium is an effective catalyst for
oxidising ammonia to nitrogen oxides, but this has been replaced by an alloy of
95% platinum and 5% rhodium because of its better mechanical properties and
greater durability.
 In petroleum cracking.
 In producing sulfuric acid.

Yellowed thorium dioxide lens (left), a similar lens partially de-yellowed with ultraviolet radiation (centre),
and lens without yellowing (right)
12. In high quality lenses:
When added to glass, thorium dioxide helps increase its refractive index and
decrease dispersion. Such glass finds application in high-quality lenses for cameras
and scientific instruments.
The radiation from these lenses can darken them and turn them yellow over a
period of years and it degrades film, but the health risks are minimal. Yellowed
lenses may be restored to their original colourless state by lengthy exposure to
intense ultraviolet radiation. Thorium dioxide has since been replaced in this
application by rare-earth oxides, such as  lanthanum, as they provide similar effects
and are not radioactive.
13. Anti-reflection material:
Thorium tetrafluoride is used as an anti-reflection material in multilayered optical
coatings.
14. Aerospace applicatons:
Mag-Thor alloys (also called thoriated magnesium) found use in some aerospace
applications, though such uses have been phased out due to concerns over
radioactivity.
15. Nuclear fuel:
 As thorium is radioactive,its uses mainly lie in nuclear fuel
applications.Thorium will find use in the nuclear reactor to burn it without
generating plutonium.
 It is helpful in radiometric dating.It is used to date the hominid fossils.

3. PROTACTINIUM:
Protactinium (formerly protoactinium) is a chemical element with
the symbol Pa and atomic number 91. It is a dense, silvery-gray actinide metal which
readily reacts with oxygen, water vapor and inorganic acids. It forms
various chemical compounds in which protactinium is usually present in the oxidation
state +5, but it can also assume +4 and even +3 or +2 states.Its electronic
configuration is [Rn] 5f26d17s2.
1. Research purposes:
Although protactinium is located in the periodic table between uranium and
thorium, which both have numerous applications, there are currently no uses for
protactinium outside scientific research owing to its scarcity, high radioactivity, and
high toxicity.
2. Nuclear weapons:
Protactinium-231 arises from the decay of natural uranium-235, and in nuclear
reactors by the reaction 232Th + n → 231Th + 2n and subsequent beta decay. It
was once thought to be able to support a nuclear chain reaction, which could in
principle be used to build nuclear weapons.
3. As a tracer or for dating:
With the advent of highly sensitive mass spectrometers, an application of 231-
Pa as a tracer in geology and paleoceanography has become possible. So, the ratio
of protactinium-231 to thorium-230 is used for radiometric dating of sediments which
are up to 175,000 years old and in modeling of the formation of minerals.
4. To Reconstruct water bodies:
In particular, its evaluation in oceanic sediments allowed to reconstruct the
movements of North Atlantic water bodies during the last melting of Ice Age glaciers.
5. Concentration analysis:
The concentration analysis for both protactinium-231 (half-life 32,760 years) and
thorium-230 (half-life 75,380 years) allows to improve the accuracy compared to
when only one isotope is measured; this double-isotope method is also weakly
sensitive to inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution of the isotopes and to
variations in their precipitation rate.

4. URANIUM:
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a
silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has
92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is
weakly radioactive because all isotopes of uranium are unstable.

MILITARY USE

1. High density penetrators:

The major application of uranium in the military sector is in high-density
penetrators. This ammunition consists of depleted uranium (DU) alloyed with 1–2%
other elements, such as titanium or molybdenum.
Various militaries use depleted uranium as high-density penetrators.

At high impact speed, the density, hardness, and pyrophoricity of the projectile

enable the destruction of heavily armored targets.
2. Hardening of vehicles:
Tank armor and other removable vehicle armor can also be hardened with
depleted uranium plates.
Hardened vehicles:
A hardened vehicle is made less vulnerable to the effects of explosives and small arms fire by adding
sandbags, Armor plating, ballistic glass, and other protective devices.

3. In shielding material:
Depleted uranium is also used as a shielding material in some containers used
to store and transport radioactive materials.
4. For Halting radiations:
The metal itself is radioactive, its high density makes it more effective
than lead in halting radiation from strong sources such as radium.
5. Shielding material:
Other uses of depleted uranium include counterweights for aircraft control
surfaces, as ballast for missile re-entry vehicles and as a shielding material.
6. In guidance systems:
Due to its high density, this material is found in inertial guidance systems and
in gyroscopic compasses.
A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the
rotation of the Earth to find geographical direction 

7. Nuclear weapons:
During the later stages of World War II, the entire Cold War, and to a lesser
extent afterwards, uranium-235 has been used as the fissile explosive material to
produce nuclear weapons.
8. Nuclear fusion process:
Initially, two major types of fission bombs were built: a relatively simple device
that uses uranium-235 and a more complicated mechanism that uses plutonium-
239 derived from uranium-238. Later, a much more complicated and far more
powerful type of fission/fusion bomb (thermonuclear weapon) was built, that uses a
plutonium-based device to cause a mixture of tritium and deuterium to
undergo nuclear fusion. Such bombs are jacketed in a non-fissile (unenriched)
uranium case, and they derive more than half their power from the fission of this
material by fast neutrons from the nuclear fusion process.

CIVILIAN USE

1. Nuclear power plants:

The main use of uranium in the civilian sector is to fuel nuclear power plants.

The most visible civilian use of uranium-235 is as the thermal power source used
in nuclear power plants.
One kilogram of uranium-235 can theoretically produce about 20 terajoules of energy
(2×1013 joules), assuming complete fission; as much energy as 1.5 million kilograms (1,500 tonnes)
of coal.

In a breeder reactor, uranium-238 can also be converted into plutonium through the

following reaction:

2. In potery glazes:
Before (and, occasionally, after) the discovery of radioactivity, uranium was
primarily used in small amounts for yellow glass and pottery glazes, such as uranium
glass and in Fiestaware.
Uranium glass glowing under UV light

3. In clocks and aircraft dials:

The discovery and isolation of radium in uranium ore (pitchblende) by Marie
Curie sparked the development of uranium mining to extract the radium, which was
used to make glow-in-the-dark paints for clock and aircraft dials.
This left a prodigious quantity of uranium as a waste product, since it takes three tonnes of uranium
to extract one gram of radium. This waste product was diverted to the glazing industry, making
uranium glazes very inexpensive and abundant.

4. Use of uranium tiles:

Besides the pottery glazes, uranium tile glazes accounted for the bulk of the use,
including common bathroom and kitchen tiles which can be produced in green,
yellow, mauve, black, blue, red and other colors.

The uranium glaze on a Sencer Sarı ceramic glowing under UV light.

Uranium glass used as lead-in seals in a vacuum capacitor.

5. In Photographic chemical:
Uranium was also used in photographic chemicals (especially uranium nitrate as
a toner), in lamp filaments for stage lighting bulbs,[to improve
 the appearance of dentures.
 in the leather and wood industries for stains and dyes.
6. Uranium salts:
Uranium salts are mordants of silk or wool.
7. In staining techniques:
Uranyl acetate and uranyl formate are used as electron-dense "stains"
in transmission electron microscopy, to increase the contrast of biological specimens
in ultrathin sections and in negative staining of viruses, isolated cell
organelles and macromolecules.
8. For age estimation of rocks:
The discovery of the radioactivity of uranium ushered in additional scientific and
practical uses of the element.
The long half-life of the isotope uranium-238 (4.47×109 years) makes it well-suited
for use in estimating the age of the earliest igneous rocks and for other types
of radiometric dating, including uranium–thorium dating, uranium–lead
dating and uranium–uranium dating.
9. X-ray targets:
Uranium metal is used for X-ray targets in the making of high-energy X-rays.
10. Radio therapy:
Medicine: radio-isotopes are used for diagnosis and research. Radio-diagnosis can
be used to detect disease by injecting certain radio-elements into the human body
and observing their paths. Radio-therapy uses ionizing radiation to kill cancer cells
and nuclear medicine relies on radio-active drugs that target specific organs.
11. Food processing industry:
Food-processing industry: radio-isotopes are used to sterilize fresh products
because irradiation kills parasites, pests and bacteria.
12. Space industry:
Space industry: when space probes are required to operate in places far away from
the sun, the only available solution for the production of heat and electricity is the
use of radio-isotopes.
 5. NAPTUNIUM:
Neptunium is a chemical element with the symbol Np and atomic number 93.
A radioactive actinide metal, neptunium is the first transuranic element. 
Transuranium elements:
The transuranium elements are the chemical elements with atomic numbers greater than 92,
which is the atomic number of uranium.All these elements are synthetic, unstable and decay
radioactively into other elements.
1. Precursor in plutonium production :
An important use of 237-Np is as a precursor in plutonium production, where it is
irradiated with neutrons to create 238-Pu, an alpha emitter for radioisotope thermal
generators for spacecraft and military applications. 237-Np will capture a neutron to
form 238-Np and beta decay with a half-life of just over two days to 238-Pu.

238-Pu also exists in sizable quantities in spent nuclear fuel but would have to be
separated from other isotopes of plutonium.
2. Plutonium-236:
Irradiating neptunium-237 with electron beams, provoking bremsstrahlung, also
produces quite pure samples of the isotope plutonium-236, useful as a tracer to
determine plutonium concentration in the environment.
3. Weapons:
Neptunium is fissionable, and could theoretically be used as fuel in a fast-neutron
reactor or a nuclear weapon, with a critical mass of around 60 kilograms.The U.S.
Department of Energy declassified the statement that neptunium-237 "can be used
for a nuclear explosive device". 
4. Physics:
237-Np is used in devices for detecting high-energy (MeV) neutrons.
5. Research:
Neptunium is used mainly for research purposes.
6. PLUTONIUM:
Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic
number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when
exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally
exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts
with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon, and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it
forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which
in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric. It is radioactive and can accumulate
in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous.

1. Explosives:
The isotope plutonium-239 is a key fissile component in nuclear weapons, due to its
ease of fission and availability. Encasing the bomb's plutonium pit in a tamper (an
optional layer of dense material) decreases the amount of plutonium needed to
reach critical mass by reflecting escaping neutrons back into the plutonium
core. This critical mass is about a third of that for uranium-235. Only 6.2 kg of
plutonium was needed for an explosive yield equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT.
Hypothetically, as little as 4 kg of plutonium—and maybe even less—could be used
to make a single atomic bomb using very sophisticated assembly designs.

The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 had a plutonium core.

2. Mixed oxide fuel:

Spent nuclear fuel from normal light water reactors contains plutonium, but it is a
mixture of plutonium-242, 240, 239 and 238. The mixture is not sufficiently enriched
for efficient nuclear weapons, but can be used once as MOX fuel. Accidental neutron
capture causes the amount of plutonium-242 and 240 to grow each time the
plutonium is irradiated in a reactor with low-speed "thermal" neutrons, so that after
the second cycle, the plutonium can only be consumed by fast neutron reactors. If
fast neutron reactors are not available (the normal case), excess plutonium is usually
discarded, and forms one of the longest-lived components of nuclear waste. The
desire to consume this plutonium and other transuranic fuels and reduce the
radiotoxicity of the waste is the usual reason nuclear engineers give to make fast
neutron reactors.
The most common chemical process, PUREX (Plutonium–
URanium EXtraction), reprocesses spent nuclear fuel to extract plutonium and
uranium which can be used to form a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for reuse in nuclear
reactors. Weapons-grade plutonium can be added to the fuel mix. MOX fuel is used
in light water reactors and consists of 60 kg of plutonium per tonne of fuel; after four
years, three-quarters of the plutonium is burned (turned into other
elements). Breeder reactors are specifically designed to create more fissionable
material than they consume.
 MOX fuel improves total burnup.
 A fuel rod is reprocessed after three years of use to remove waste products,
which by then account for 3% of the total weight of the rods.
 Any uranium or plutonium isotopes produced during those three years are left
and the rod goes back into production.
 The presence of up to 1% gallium per mass in weapons-grade plutonium
alloy has the potential to interfere with long-term operation of a light water
reactor.
Plutonium recovered from spent reactor fuel poses little proliferation hazard,
because of excessive contamination with non-fissile plutonium-240 and plutonium-
242. Separation of the isotopes is not feasible.
 "weapons-grade" plutonium is defined to contain at least 92% plutonium-239 (of
the total plutonium).
 It is unknown if a device using plutonium obtained from reprocessed civil nuclear
waste can be detonated, however such a device could hypothetically fizzle and
spread radioactive materials over a large urban area.
 The IAEA conservatively classifies plutonium of all isotopic vectors as "direct-
use" material, that is, "nuclear material that can be used for the manufacture of
nuclear explosives components without transmutation or further enrichment".
3. Power and heat source
The isotope plutonium-238 (half-life of 87.74 years) emits a large amount of thermal
energy with low levels of both gamma rays/photons and spontaneous neutron
rays/particles. Being an alpha emitter, it combines high energy radiation with low
penetration and thereby requires minimal shielding. A sheet of paper can be used to
shield against the alpha particles emitted by plutonium-238. One kilogram of the
isotope can generate about 570 watts of heat.
A glowing cylinder of 238-PuO2

The 238-PuO2 radioisotope thermoelectric generator of the Curiosity rover

These characteristics make it well-suited for electrical power generation for devices
that must function without direct maintenance for timescales approximating a human
lifetime. It is therefore used in radioisotope thermoelectric
generators and radioisotope heater units such as those in the Cassini,
Voyager, Galileo and New Horizons, space probes, and
the Curiosity and Perseverance (Mars 2020) Mars rovers.
The twin Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977, each containing a 500 watt plutonium power
source. Over 30 years later, each source is still producing about 300 watts which allows limited
operation of each spacecraft.

4. Medicinal use:
Plutonium-238 has also been used successfully to power artificial heart pacemakers,
to reduce the risk of repeated surgery.
5. Diving application:
 Plutonium-238 was studied as a way to provide supplemental heat to scuba diving.
6. Research:
 Plutonium-238 mixed with beryllium is used to generate neutrons for research
purposes.

7. AMERICIUM:
Americium is a synthetic radioactive chemical element with
the symbol Am and atomic number 95. It is a transuranic member of
the actinide series, in the periodic table located under
the lanthanide element europium. Its electronic configuration is [Rn] 5f7 7s2.
1. Ionization-type smoke detector:
Americium is used in the most common type of household smoke detector, which
uses 241-Am in the form of americium dioxide as its source of ionizing radiation.
This isotope is preferred over 226-Ra because it emits 5 times more alpha particles
and relatively little harmful gamma radiation.
The amount of americium in a typical new smoke detector is 1 microcurie (37 kBq) or
0.29 microgram. This amount declines slowly as the americium decays
into neptunium-237, a different transuranic element with a much longer half-life
(about 2.14 million years), with Am half-life of 432.2 years.
How smoke alarms work:

The radiation passes through an  ionization chamber, an air-filled space between two  electrodes, and
permits a small, constant  current  between the electrodes. Any smoke that enters the chamber
absorbs the alpha particles, which reduces the ionization and affects this current, triggering the
alarm.

Compared to the alternative optical smoke detector, the ionization smoke detector is
cheaper and can detect particles which are too small to produce significant light
scattering; however, it is more prone to false alarms.
2. Radionuclide:
As 241-Am has a roughly similar half-life to 238-Pu (432.2 years vs. 87 years), it has
been proposed as an active element of radioisotope thermoelectric generators, for
example in spacecraft. Although americium produces less heat and electricity – the
power yield is 114.7 mW/g for 241-Am and 6.31 mW/g for 243-Am (cf. 390 mW/g
for 238Pu)– and its radiation poses more threat to humans owing to neutron
emission, the European Space Agency is considering using americium for its space
probes.
3. As fuel:
Another proposed space-related application of americium is a fuel for space ships
with nuclear propulsion. It relies on the very high rate of nuclear fission of 242m-Am,
which can be maintained even in a micrometer-thick foil. Small thickness avoids the
problem of self-absorption of emitted radiation. This problem is pertinent to uranium
or plutonium rods, in which only surface layers provide alpha-particles. The fission
products of 242m-Am can either directly propel the spaceship or they can heat a
thrusting gas. They can also transfer their energy to a fluid and generate electricity
through a magnetohydrodynamic generator.
4. Nuclear battery:
One more proposal which utilizes the high nuclear fission rate of 242m-Am is a
nuclear battery. Its design relies not on the energy of the emitted by americium alpha
particles, but on their charge, that is the americium acts as the self-sustaining
"cathode". A single 3.2 kg 242m-Am charge of such battery could provide about
140 kW of power over a period of 80 days. Even with all the potential benefits, the
current applications of 242m-Am are as yet hindered by the scarcity and high price of
this particular nuclear isomer.
This technology could lead to systems to power missions with durations up to 400
years into interstellar space, where solar panels do not function.
5. Neutron source:
The oxide of 241-Am pressed with beryllium is an efficient neutron source. Here
americium acts as the alpha source, and beryllium produces neutrons owing to its
large cross-section for the (α,n) nuclear reaction:

The most widespread use of 241-AmBe neutron sources is a neutron probe – a

device used to measure the quantity of water present in soil, as well as
moisture/density for quality control in highway construction. 
6. Well logging and radiochemical applications:
241-Am neutron sources are also used in well logging applications, as well as
in neutron radiography, tomography and other radiochemical investigations.
7. Production of other element:
Americium is a starting material for the production of other transuranic elements
and transactinides – for example, 82.7% of 242-Am decays to 242-Cm and 17.3%
to 242-Pu. In the nuclear reactor, 242-Am is also up-converted by neutron capture
to 243-Am and 244-Am, which transforms by β-decay to 244-Cm:

Irradiation of 241-Am by 12C or 22Ne ions yields the isotopes 247-Es (einsteinium)

or 260-Db (dubnium), respectively. Furthermore, the element berkelium (243-Bk
isotope) had been first intentionally produced and identified by bombarding 241-Am
with alpha particles.
Similarly, nobelium was produced, in several reactions, one of which included
irradiation of 243-Am with 15N ions. Besides, one of the synthesis reactions
for lawrencium, included bombardment of 243Am with 18O.
8. Spectrometer:
Americium-241 has been used as a portable source of both gamma rays and alpha
particles for a number of medical and industrial uses. The 59.5409 keV gamma ray
emissions from 241-Am in such sources can be used for indirect analysis of
materials in radiography and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as for quality
control in fixed nuclear density gauges and nuclear densometers. For example, the
element has been employed to gauge glass thickness to help create flat glass.
Americium-241 is also suitable for calibration of gamma-ray spectrometers in the
low-energy range, since its spectrum consists of nearly a single peak and negligible
Compton continuum (at least three orders of magnitude lower intensity).
9. Medical use:
Americium-241 gamma rays were also used to provide passive diagnosis of thyroid
function. This medical application is however obsolete.

8. CURIUM:
Curium is a transuranic, radioactive chemical element with
the symbol Cm and atomic number 96.Its electronic configuration is [Rn] 5f7 6d1 7s2.
Curium is a hard, dense, silvery metal with a relatively high melting point and boiling
point for an actinide. Whereas it is paramagnetic at ambient conditions(STP), it
becomes antiferromagnetic upon cooling.

1. Radionuclides:
A radionuclide is an unstable form of a chemical element that releases
radiation as it breaks down and becomes more stable.

Curium is one of the most radioactive isolable elements. Its two most common isotopes  242-Cm
and  244-Cm are strong alpha emitters (energy 6  MeV); they have relatively short half-lives of 162.8
days and 18.1 years, and produce as much as 120 W/g and 3 W/g of thermal energy, respectively.

Therefore, curium can be used in its common oxide form in radioisotope

thermoelectric generators like those in spacecraft. This application has been studied
for the 244-Cm isotope, while 242-Cm was abandoned due to its prohibitive price of
around 2000 USD/g. Though as an α-emitter, 244-Cm requires a much thinner
radiation protection shielding, it has a high spontaneous fission rate.
The radiation from curium is so strong that the metal glows purple in the dark.

Curium is also a common starting material for the production of higher  transuranium
elements and superheavy elements. Thus, bombardment of 248-Cm with neon
(22Ne), magnesium (26Mg), or calcium (48Ca) yielded certain isotopes
of seaborgium (265-Sg), hassium (269-Hs and 270-Hs), and livermorium (292-
Lv, 293-Lv, and possibly 294-Lv).
Californium was discovered when a microgram-sized target of curium-242 was
irradiated with 35 MeV alpha particles using the 60-inch (150 cm) cyclotron at
Berkeley:

Only about 5,000 atoms of californium were produced in this experiment.

2. In nuclear reactors:
The odd-mass curium isotopes 243Cm, 245Cm, and 247Cm are all highly fissile and
can be used to generate additional energy in a thermal spectrum nuclear reactor;
while all of the Cm isotopes are fissionable in fast neutron spectrum reactors. This is
one of the motivations for minor actinide separations and transmutation in
the nuclear fuel cycle, helping to reduce the long-term radiotoxicity of used, or spent
nuclear fuel.
3. Medical use:
A more promising application of 242-Cm is to produce 238-Pu, a more suitable
radioisotope for thermoelectric generators such as in cardiac pacemakers. The
alternative routes to 238-Pu use the (n,γ) reaction of 237-Np, or
the deuteron bombardment of uranium, which both always produce 236-Pu as an
undesired by-product—since the latter decays to 232-U with strong gamma
emission.
4. X-ray spectrometer:
The most practical application of 244-Cm—though rather limited in total volume—is
as α-particle source in the alpha particle X-ray spectrometers (APXS). These
instruments were installed on the Sojourner, Mars, Mars 96, Mars Exploration
Rovers and Philae comet lander, as well as the Mars Science Laboratory to analyze
the composition and structure of the rocks on the surface of planet Mars. APXS was
also used in the Surveyor 5–7 moon probes but with a 242-Cm source.
Alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer of a Mars exploration rover

5. Spacecraft applications:
One gram of curium produces around 3 watts of thermal energy. For this reason, It is
used in spacecraft applications.It is used on sapce missions.

9. BERKELIUM:
Berkelium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with
the symbol Bk and atomic number 97. It is a member of
the actinide and transuranium element series.Its electronic configuration is
[Rn] 5f9 7s2.Berkelium is so rare element.

1. Research applications:
There is currently no use for any isotope of berkelium outside basic scientific
research.
2. Production of transuranium elements:
 Berkelium-249 is a common target nuclide to prepare still heavier transuranium
elements and superheavy elements, such
as lawrencium, rutherfordium and bohrium.[14] It is also useful as a source of the
isotope californium-249, which is used for studies on the chemistry of californium in
preference to the more radioactive californium-252 that is produced in neutron
bombardment facilities such as the HFIR.
3. Weapons tests:
It was used for the atmospheric nuclear weapons tests between 1945 and 1980.
10. CALIFORNIUM:
(isotope-252)
Californium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Cf and atomic
number 98. Its electronic configuration is [Rn] 5f10 7s2[1].

1. Neutron emitter:
Californium-252 has a number of specialized uses as a strong neutron emitter; it
produces 139 million neutrons per microgram per minute. This property makes it
useful as a startup neutron source for some nuclear reactors and as a portable (non-
reactor based) neutron source for neutron activation analysis to detect trace
amounts of elements in samples.
2. Medical uses:
 Neutrons from californium are used as a treatment of certain cervical and brain
cancers where other radiation therapy is ineffective.
3. Educational applications:
It has been used in educational applications since 1969 when Georgia Institute of
Technology got a loan of 119 μg of 252-Cf from the Savannah River Site.
4. Analyzer:
It is also used with online elemental coal analyzers and bulk material analyzers in the
coal and cement industries.
5. For radiography:
Neutron penetration into materials makes californium useful in detection instruments
such as fuel rod scanners; neutron radiography of aircraft and weapons components
to detect corrosion, bad welds, cracks and trapped moisture; and in portable metal
detectors.
6. In mineral prospecting:
 Neutron moisture gauges use 252-Cf to find water and petroleum layers in oil wells,
as a portable neutron source for gold and silver prospecting for on-the-spot analysis,
and to detect ground water movement.
7. Miscelleneous uses:
The main uses of 252-Cf in 1982 were,
 reactor start-up (48.3%),
 fuel rod scanning (25.3%), and
 activation analysis (19.4%).
By 1994, most 252-Cf was used in
  neutron radiography (77.4%),
 with fuel rod scanning (12.1%) and
 reactor start-up (6.9%) as important but secondary uses.
In 2021, fast neutrons from 252-Cf were used for:
 wireless data transmission.
8. Production of elements:
Californium has also been used to produce other transuranium elements; for
example, element 103 (later named lawrencium) was first synthesized in 1961 by
bombarding californium with boron nuclei.

11. EINSTEINIUM:
Einsteinium is a synthetic element with the symbol Es and atomic number 99.
Einsteinium is a member of the actinide series and it is the seventh transuranium
element. Its electronic configurstion is [Rn] 5f11 7s2.
1. Scientific research:

There is almost no use for any isotope of einsteinium outside basic scientific
research aiming at production of higher transuranium elements and superheavy
elements.
2. Production of other elements:
In 1955, mendelevium was synthesized by irradiating a target consisting of about
109 atoms of 253-Es in the 60-inch cyclotron at Berkeley Laboratory. The
resulting 253-Es(α,n) 256-Md reaction yielded 17 atoms of the new element with the
atomic number of 101.
3. Production of heavier elements:
The rare isotope 254-Es is favored for production of superheavy elements because
of its large mass, relatively long half-life of 270 days, and availability in significant
amounts of several micrograms. Hence 254-Es was used as a target in the
attempted synthesis of ununennium (element 119) in 1985 by bombarding it
with calcium-48 ions at the superHILAC linear particle accelerator at Berkeley,
California. No atoms were identified, setting an upper limit for the cross section of
this reaction at 300 nanobarns.

4. Calibration marker:

254-Es was used as the calibration marker in the chemical analysis spectrometer
("alpha-scattering surface analyzer") of the Surveyor 5 lunar probe. The large mass
of this isotope reduced the spectral overlap between signals from the marker and the
studied lighter elements of the lunar surface.

12. FERMIUM:
Fermium is a synthetic element with the symbol Fm and atomic number 100. It is
an actinide and the heaviest element that can be formed by neutron bombardment of
lighter elements, and hence the last element that can be prepared in macroscopic
quantities, although pure fermium metal has not yet been prepared.Its electronic
configuration is [Rn] 5f12 7s2.
1. It is known that fermium is generated in a minor amount, and all the isotopes
have extremely short lives. So, there are no such commercial uses of fermium.
2. Scientists are using fermium for experiments. As there are many facts yet to be
discovered about this element, therefore, scientists are still experimenting on
fermium to get a broader horizon of knowledge about fermium.
3. Fermium has no uses outside research.

13. MENDELEVIUM:
Mendelevium is a synthetic element with the symbol Md (formerly Mv) and atomic
number 101. A metallic radioactive transuranium element in the actinide series, it is
the first element by atomic number that currently cannot be produced
in macroscopic quantities by neutron bombardment of lighter elements. It is the third-
to-last actinide and the ninth transuranic element. It can only be produced in particle
accelerators by bombarding lighter elements with charged particles.Its electronic
configuration is [Rn] 5f13 7s2.
1. Mendelevium is currrently used for scientific research purpose only and also to
study the chemical properties of different elements and aqueous solutions by
the use of the isotope 256-Md.
2. Mendelevium may also be used for technology purposes and harvesting energy.

3. Since the metal is not produced in bulk amounts, it does not have any practical
or economic applications.
14. NOBELIUM:
Nobelium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol No and atomic
number 102.  A radioactive metal, it is the tenth transuranic element and is the
penultimate member of the actinide series. Like all elements with atomic number
over 100, nobelium can only be produced in particle accelerators by bombarding
lighter elements with charged particles.Its electronic configuration is [Rn] 5f14 7s2.

1. Nobelium uranium are such metals which find application only in scientific
research purposes. They are highly radioactive and unstable. As a result, they
mostly decompose into other forms.
2. Research-related purposes are of prime significance.

15. LAWRENCIUM:
A radioactive metal, lawrencium is the eleventh transuranic element and the last
member of the actinide series. Like all elements with atomic number over 100,
lawrencium can only be produced in particle accelerators by bombarding lighter
elements with charged particles.Its electronic configuration is [Rn] 5f14 7s2 7p1.
1. Lawrencium is a radioactive element for which it does not really have much use
outside the laboratory. It is purely used for scientific research purposes and
does not exist in a free elemental state outside.
2. Only a few atoms of Lawrencium have been produced, therefore it is used in
technical purposes of harvesting projects only.
3. The isotope of Lawrencium, 260-Lr is used for scientific studies because it can
be produced in a large scale.