Is plutonium an isotope of uranium or is it a completely different element?

Different element I believe.

I was under the impression that it was completely different.

Different element. Very close but different.

Diefferent element, uranium can decay into plutonium, though.

It is a different element. Uranium has at least two different specific gravities. Uranium 235 was the radioactive isotope of choice some decades ago, but I believe that plutonium yields a more explosive reaction when its atoms are split.

Plutonium and Uranium are two different elements.

Plutonium can be derived from Uranium through the following reaction: uranium-238 : 238U (n, gamma) ? 239U -(beta) ? 239Np -(beta) ? 239Pu.

But they are still two different elements. Plutonium has two more neutrons naturally found in it's nucleaus than Uranium, therefore it is a different element completely.


Isotopes of elements still have the same element name but with a different mass number. They have the same number of protons in the nucleus, but have a different number of protons.

I hope that helps.