Americium-241 is a radioactive isotope and a vital component of smoke detectors. what is the elemental identity of the decay product of americium-241 after it undergoes alpha decay?
[tex]_{95}^{241}Am ---\ \textgreater \ _{2}^{4}He + ^{237}_{93}Np
During \alpha- decay , \alpha - particle
will be removed (_{2}^{4}He).
So mass number will decrease by 4,
and atomic number will decrease by 2.
[/tex]
