Americium & Neptunium - seemingly unobtainable elements

Americium & Neptunium - seemingly unobtainable elements

Both Am and Np metals have high atomic numbers, 95 and 93 respectively. That means both of them are above what is considered to normally occur in Earth's crust (at least in any larger quantities, as trace amounts of neptunium can be found as a product of spontaneous fission of U-238 or neutron induced fission of U-235 etc.. Am isotopes also can't be completely excluded, following this line of reasoning). Both of these elements are also pretty radioactive. Neptunium is more stable, with the longest-living isotope Np-237 having half life over 2 million years, which is still about 2000 times shorter than the natural U-238's.

Americium, on the other hand, is an absolute menace when it comes to the stability of it's isotopes.

Steel casing of a radioactive smoke detector.

That doesn't mean scientists weren't able to tame such powerhouse of a nucleus - they did, and some of us might be able to find the proof a couple of meters from their heads. Am-241, an isotope with a half-life equal to around a quarter of the terrifying isotope Ra-226's 1600 years, is used as a source of alpha particles that help detect when anything goes wrong during cooking.

Americium smoke detectors utilize the small button inside as a source of near continuous radioactive decay that causes air around it to ionize. An electronic circuit inside is able to tell when something (like smoke) goes in the way of the electron flow through the ionized air (lowers the passing current) and force an alarm to go off.

Americium-241 button source

So by getting a simple, cheap smoke detector, you might be able to get a sample of an extremely radioactive element, in the form of a small piece of metal foil containing AmO2. Might be a little underwhelming, but trust me, you wouldn't want much more. Also, if you ever get your hands on such an item, please don't tamper with it in any way. 

Keep it sealed, don't poke at it, scratch it, eat it or play with it anywhere you might want to live afterwards. And do not remove the steel piece that contains said foil! Radioactive contamination is not a joke and even a small source should be treated responsibly.

And why did I mention neptunium? Most isotopes of americium, including what is inside the smoke detectors, decay to neptunium. Meaning that after some years, your Am-241 button can contain a fair bit of Np atoms. It's the only way th get the element if you aren't satisfied with keeping pitchblende as a sample of all the lower actinides.

A piece of U ore might contain an atom or two of neptunium.

Don't play with radioactive stuff and don't go searching for metallic forms of these elements. You will get put on a list and won't be able to find them anyways.