wandering about americium

[sciencewiz]

i was wandering do they still make smoke detectors with americium in them.
:roll:

[Exile]

Aint americium a man made element?

[RobJim]

I believe so. The way these things work is that there is a small amount of radioactive Americium in a chamber with only one outlet. That outlet points to some sort of detector. As long as that detector is exposed to radiation, the alarm doesn't go off. However smoke can absorb the radiation and stop the detector from being hit by it. If the detector is not "seeing" the radiation, the alarm goes off. At least I think that's how they work.

[Lou1024]

Yes
http://www.uic.com.au/nip35.htm

Originally Posted by RobJim

I believe so. The way these things work is that there is a small amount of radioactive Americium in a chamber with only one outlet. That outlet points to some sort of detector. As long as that detector is exposed to radiation, the alarm doesn't go off. However smoke can absorb the radiation and stop the detector from being hit by it. If the detector is not "seeing" the radiation, the alarm goes off. At least I think that's how they work.

That is awesome!! I learn something new and strange every day!! And they definatly do exist. Any of you remember that guy a few years back who pulled a whole sh*t load of a "radioactive material" out of smoke alarms? They didn't mention on the news what the material was, but my aunt works at the manufacturing plant for the company that sold those alarms. She was able to tell me that it was, without doubt, Americium.

[doxhund66]

i'm pretty sure they still use it... it's a man-made element, so they'll prolly use it until they find/make something better. if anyone is reading this, please go to the top of the forum and answer my question- yes, i know it's a really stupid question, but i need to know like right now or i can't finish my project that's due monday. so yeah. thx.