enow.com Web Search

Search results

  1. Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
  2. Radioactive decay - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_decay

    Radioactive decay is a random process at the level of single atoms. According to quantum theory, it is impossible to predict when a particular atom will decay, regardless of how long the atom has existed. [2] [3] [4] However, for a significant number of identical atoms, the overall decay rate can be expressed as a decay constant or as a half-life.

  3. List of equations in nuclear and particle physics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equations_in...

    Decay rate, activity of a ... Radioactive decay: N 0 = Initial number of atoms; N = Number of atoms at time t; ... Breit-Wigner formula: E 0 = Resonant energy; Γ, ...

  4. Half-life - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-life

    In other words, the probability of a radioactive atom decaying within its half-life is 50%. [2] For example, the accompanying image is a simulation of many identical atoms undergoing radioactive decay. Note that after one half-life there are not exactly one-half of the atoms remaining, only approximately, because of the random variation in the ...

  5. Bateman equation - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bateman_equation

    In nuclear physics, the Bateman equation is a mathematical model describing abundances and activities in a decay chain as a function of time, based on the decay rates and initial abundances. The model was formulated by Ernest Rutherford in 1905 [1] and the analytical solution was provided by Harry Bateman in 1910. [2]

  6. Decay correction - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decay_correction

    The formula for decay correcting is: ... where "/" is the half-life of the radioactive material of interest. Example . The decay correct might be used this way: a ...

  7. Decay chain - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decay_chain

    The only prediction that can be made is statistical and expresses an average rate of decay. This rate can be represented by adjusting the curve of a decaying exponential distribution with a decay constant (λ) particular to the isotope. On this understanding the radioactive decay of an initial population of unstable atoms over time t follows ...

  8. Exponential decay - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_decay

    A quantity undergoing exponential decay. Larger decay constants make the quantity vanish much more rapidly. This plot shows decay for decay constant (λ) of 25, 5, 1, 1/5, and 1/25 for x from 0 to 5. A quantity is subject to exponential decay if it decreases at a rate proportional to its current value.

  9. Radiometric dating - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiometric_dating

    The radioactive decay constant, the probability that an atom will decay per year, is the solid foundation of the common measurement of radioactivity. The accuracy and precision of the determination of an age (and a nuclide's half-life) depends on the accuracy and precision of the decay constant measurement. [9]