Uranium-233 undergoes alpha decay with a half-life of 160,000 years and, like 235U, is fissile.[10] It can be bred from thorium-232 via neutron bombardment, usually in a nuclear reactor; this process is known as the thorium fuel cycle. Owing to the fissility of 233U and the greater ...
Uranium-238 is an α emitter, decaying through the 18-member uranium natural decay series into lead-206.[10] The decay series of uranium-235 (also called actino-uranium) has 15 members that ends in lead-207.[10] The constant rates of decay in these series makes comparison of the ratios ...
So when a mineral grain forms (specifically, when it first cools below its trapping temperature), it effectively sets the uranium-lead "clock" to zero. Lead atoms created by uranium decay are trapped in the crystal and build up in concentration with time. If nothing disturbs the grain to re...
Uranium is the ninety-second element of the periodic system. The atomic ground state is designated5L60in spectroscopic notation and has a 1s22s22p63s23p63d104s24p64d104f145s25p65d105f36s26p66d7s2electronic configuration (Laun, 1966; Steinhauset al., 1966). The valence electrons are those of ...