The Production of Radium E and Radium F (Polonium) from Bismuth

Abstract

It is shown that when bismuth is bombarded with 10-Mev deuterons both radium E and radium F are formed. The former corresponds to a neutron capture and the latter to the capture of a proton. The yield of each product is found as a function of the exciting energy. At 10 Mev the yield of radium F is less than one-fourth of that of radium E. Since the possibility of a neutron and a proton leaving the nucleus should be almost equally probable, this is evidence that the deuteron as a whole has a low probability of entering the nucleus but rather obeys an Oppenheimer-Phillips process. The cross sections for the formation of radium E and radium F at 10 Mev are 4×${10}^{-28\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$ and 9×${10}^{-29\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$, respectively.