The half-life of U₂₃₄ has been determined by two independent methods. The first method involves a re-measurement of the relative isotopic abundance of U₂₃₄ and U₂₃₈ in normal uranium; from this measurement the half-life of U₂₃₄ can be obtained in terms of the known half-life of U₂₃₈. The value obtained by this method is 2.29±{}0.14×{}10⁵ years. The second method involves the determination of the specific α-activity of U₂₃₄ from the total specific α-activity and relative isotopic abundances of several enriched uranium samples. The value obtained by this method is 2.35±{}0.14×{}10⁵ years. Both values for the half-life are somewhat smaller than the currently accepted value of 2.69±{}0.27×{}10⁵ years.
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Chamberlain et al. (1946) studied this question.
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