Fill in the word “long” or “short” in the blank to answer this question.

Many smoke detectors use the radioisotope americium-241. A stream of radiation flows between two electrodes. If smoke enters the smoke detector, it breaks the flow of electrons, and an alarm sounds. Based on its application, would you expect the half-life of americium-241 to be relatively long (around 400 years) or relatively short (around 10 days)?

The half-life of americium-24 would be expected to be relativel