Talk:Fertile material

The chart is good, but I have a couple of nits to pick. 1. Not all of the arrows have percentage numbers by them. 2. Americium 242 is on there is two places, one as Am-242m, and one as Am-242. I came across the m suffix the other day, but I don't remember what it stands for. A note here would help. 3. Fission percentages are listed, but not what the products of this fission are. 4. Sometimes neutron capture is just neutron capture, sometimes it is a prelude to transmutation involving beta decay. It would be nice if it could somehow be shown explicitly. 5. A more extensive key would be good. a & B (the greek letters) I presume stand for Alpha and Beta particles. Would EC stand for Electron capture? Would that be the same as a -Beta? 6. I see a lot of neutron capture going on, but no neutron emission. 7. Where's the gamma rays? (71.117.211.59 (talk) 05:42, 4 November 2009 (UTC)) c.pergiel@gmail.com

1. No number = unconditional, 100%. Marking all of these would be more cluttered.
2. Nuclear isomer. Also, the americium-242 article explains.
3. See fission products. There are dozens.
4. Beta decay and neutron capture are both shown explicitly.
5. Electron capture requires less energy than beta plus decay but results in the same nuclide. For low energy decays only electron capture is possible.
6. Correct, none are neutron emitters (unless you count fission which does release neutrons but does not result in nuclides in the mass range of the chart)
7. Not the focus of this chart (transmutation is the focus) and had not even thought of it, but I do think gammas are low for most of the nuclides on this chart.

--JWB (talk) 06:09, 4 November 2009 (UTC)