Weight on bit Weight on bit Weight on bit (WOB), as expressed in the oil industry, is the amount of downward force exerted on the drill bit and is normally measured in thousands of pounds. Weight on bit is provided by drill collars, which are thick-walled tubular pieces machined from solid bars of steel, usually plain carbon steel but sometimes of nonmagnetic nickel-copper alloy or other nonmagnetic premium alloys. Gravity acts on the large mass of the collars to provide the downward force needed for the bits to efficiently break rock. To accurately control the amount of force applied to the bit, the
Isotopes of americium Isotopes of americium Americium (Am) is an artificial element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no known stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was Am in 1944. The artificial element decays into alpha particles. Americium has an atomic number of 95 (the number of protons in the nucleus of the americium atom). Eighteen radioisotopes of americium from Am to Am (with the exception of Am) have been characterized, with the most stable being Am with a half-life of 7,370 years, and Am with a half-life of 432.2 years. All