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