Tag Archives: uranium

Physicists at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in China have observed the lightest uranium isotope to date, uranium-214 (214U), and precisely measured the α-decay properties of two previously known isotopes, 216U and 218U. Enhanced α-particle preformation in 214U and 216U. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.152502. Uranium is a …

Uranium is actually a rather common element on Earth. You can find it in small quantities within most rocks, but 99.3% of that uranium is the relatively harmless uranium-238. It’s the much more rare uranium-235 that sustains nuclear reactions and is vital in the production of nuclear weapons. Naturally, being …