Creation

Fermium has a very interesting creation.  It was first identified in the residues of the first thermonuclear explosion, or Hydrogen bomb, tests in the Pacific Ocean.  The way that Fermium was able to form was that when the Hydrogen bomb explodes it forms an extremely dense, short-lived, wave of neutrons.  In these conditions it only take a few microseconds for a Uranium-238 to gain 17 neutrons.  This forms Uranium-255, which when decayed by a beta radiation forms fermium-255.  The equation for this is:

• ²³⁸U₉₂(17n, y)²⁵⁵U₉₂ → ²⁵⁵Fm₁₀₀ + 8^{0  0}e_-1

Now Fermium is only produced by scientists for research purposes.  Samples can be produced by slow neutron irradiation along with a fairly long set of nuclear reactions.  The steps used to create Fm all involve bombarding the isotope with neutrons, and then waiting for spontaneous beta-particle decay.  The steps are as follows:

• Step 1.  Plutonium-239 to americium-241:

                         ²³⁹Pu(2n, y)²⁴¹Pu₉₄ → ²⁴¹Am₉₅ + ⁰e_-1

• Step 2.  Americium-241 to curium-242:

                         ²⁴¹Am(n, y)²⁴²Am₉₅ → ²⁴²Cm₉₆ + ⁰e_-1

• Step 3.  Curium-242 to berkelium-249:

                         ²⁴²Cm(7n, y)²⁴⁹Cm₉₆ → ²⁴⁹Bk₉₇ + ⁰e_-1

• Step 4.  Berkelium-249 to californium-250:

                         ²⁴⁹Bk(7n, y)²⁵⁰Bk₉₇ → ²⁵⁰Cf₉₈ + ⁰e_-1

• Step 5.  Californium-250 to einsteinium-253:

                         ²⁵⁰Cf(3n, y)²⁵³Cf₉₈ → ²⁵³Es₉₉ + ⁰e_-1

• Step 6.  Einsteinium-253 to fermium-254:

                         ²⁵³Es(n, y)²⁵⁴Es₉₉ → ²⁵⁴Fm₁₀₀ + ⁰e_-1

Fermium-257 can also be produced, it is the longest living half-life of all the isotopes.  It is produced by further bombardment of fermium-254.

(Exploring Chemical Elements and their Compounds)