Talk:Fissile

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The merge seems appropriate to me. Simesa 13:40, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] How is 244 an odd number??? :-)

“Several … isotopes are known to be fissile, all of them having … odd atomic mass numbers. These include: … Curium-244[2]”

I do not know the subject enough to relate oddness to fissilitude and, therefore, to fix the article. Oddly, my degree is in physics; I recall no rule postulating that only odd-weighing isotopes be fissile (no implication that there is no such rule). The reference [2] mentioning 244Cu as a fissile material is but a safety instruction, and it is ok for such documents to err on the “safe” side, so this reference is not convincing enough to me for a blank-minded edit.

— [1] 11:57, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

“Several other transuranic isotopes are known to be fissile, all of them having… even atomic numbers…. These include: Neptunium-237[1] … Americium-241”

  • The New Math at work again?---Dah31 02:50, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

None of the nuclei 241Am, 237Np and 244Cm is fissile. All of them undergo fission after irradiation with fast neutrons, but not with thermal neutrons.

Furthermore, only 244Cm has an even mass number (244) and an even atomic number(96). Both 237Np and 241Am have an odd atomic number (93 and 95 respectively) and an odd mass number.

--Pgrouse 11:04, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What does fissile actually mean?

The word fissile can be used to refer to any item which can be split. For example it is used in geology to refer to slates and shales. Should the definition be limited to the specific case of nuclear fission?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 155.198.91.107 (talk) 16:06, 4 March 2008 (UTC)