Lightest-known form of uranium created [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

By Mara Johnson-Groh - Live Science Contributor about 16 hours ago

It could reveal more about weird alpha particles.

Scientists have discovered a new type of uranium that is the lightest ever known. The discovery could reveal more about a weird alpha particle that gets ejected from certain radioactive elements as they decay.

The newfound uranium, called uranium-214, is an isotope, or a variant of the element, with 30 more neutrons than protons, one fewer neutron than the next-lightest known uranium isotope. Because neutrons have mass, uranium-214 is much lighter than more common uranium isotopes, including uranium-235, which is used in nuclear reactors and has 51 extra neutrons.

This newfound isotope isn't just lighter than others, but it also showed unique behaviors during its decay. As such, the new findings will help scientists better understand a radioactive decay process known as alpha decay, in which an atomic nucleus loses a group of two protons and two neutrons — collectively called an alpha particle.

Though scientists know that alpha decay results in the ejection of this alpha particle, after a century of study, they still don't know the exact details of how the alpha particle is formed before it gets ejected.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/lightest-uranium-isotope-discovered.html