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| Occurrence and Production of Berkelium |
 Synthesis
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| A cyclotron was used to bombard a milligram-sized target of 241Am with alpha particles (helium nuclei) to produce 243Bk (half-life 4.5 hours) and two free neutrons. One of the longest lived isotopes of the element, 249Bk (half-life 330 days), was later synthesized by subjecting a 244Cm target with an intense beam of neutrons. |