r/whenthe • u/DreadDiana • 13h ago

BRB, destroying the few grams of Californium on Earth

4.8k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

47

u/davidarblack 13h ago

That's americium, Californium is only made in labs and is highly unstable

10

u/TheQuestionMaster8 11h ago

Californium is the heaviest element which currently has practical applications, but it is for niche uses such as nuclear reactor start-up, to detect underground water and other applications which require a portable fast neutron source.

2

u/Significant_Ad_1626 10h ago

So those who born in 99 are giving that its first "practical" application.

2

u/TheQuestionMaster8 10h ago edited 9h ago

Well there aren’t any alternative high energy neutron sources which are both as portable Californium-252 and are also easier to create.

2

u/xenoroid 9h ago

Americium is also made in labs only. It’s known as the first synthetic element in the periodic table.

2

u/HubrisOfApollo 13h ago

oh damn I meant to comment on the other guy 🤦‍♀️

1

u/hallucination9000 2h ago

It’s also only certain kinds of smoke detectors that work by ionization. There’s still the mundane ones that use a laser to check how clear the air is.

1

u/davidarblack 2h ago

Cool. TIL