Question

The radioisotope americium-241 is an alpha-emitter used in smoke detectors. What's the atomic symbol of the daughter nuclide that's formed?Question 25 options: Np Am Pa Bk

Answer 1

The question asks us to identify the element formed when americium-241 (Am-241) emits an alpha particle.

Considering the alpha radiation, a particle containing 4 protons and 2 neutrons is emitted:

`\text{Alpha particle }\rightarrow^4_2He`

We can write the alpha decay of Am-241 as:

`^(241)_(95)Am\text{ }\rightarrow^4_2He+^{_{}237}_(93)Np`

which means that americium-241 (Am-241) lost an alpha particle (He-4) and formed neptunium-237 (Np-237).

Therefore, the atomic symbol of the nuclide daughter formed when americium-241 undergoes an alpha decay is Np (option A).