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The 4n decay chain of 232 Th, commonly called the "thorium series" Thorium-232 has a half-life of 14 billion years and mainly decays by alpha decay to radium-228 with a decay energy of 4.0816 MeV. [3] The decay chain follows the thorium series, which terminates at stable lead-208. The intermediates in the thorium-232 decay chain are all ...
The 4n chain of thorium-232 is commonly called the "thorium series" or "thorium cascade". Beginning with naturally occurring thorium-232, this series includes the following elements: actinium, bismuth, lead, polonium, radium, radon and thallium. All are present, at least transiently, in any natural thorium-containing sample, whether metal ...
The alpha decay of 232 Th initiates the 4n decay chain which includes isotopes with a mass number divisible by 4 (hence the name; it is also called the thorium series after its progenitor). This chain of consecutive alpha and beta decays begins with the decay of 232 Th to 228 Ra and terminates at 208 Pb. [17]
It was once named Radiothorium, due to its occurrence in the disintegration chain of thorium-232. It has a half-life of 1.9116 years. It undergoes alpha decay to 224 Ra. Occasionally it decays by the unusual route of cluster decay, emitting a nucleus of 20 O and producing stable 208 Pb. It is a daughter isotope of 232 U in the thorium decay series.
All known thorium isotopes are unstable. The most stable isotope, 232 Th, has a half-life of 14.05 billion years, or about the age of the universe; it decays very slowly via alpha decay, starting a decay chain named the thorium series that ends at stable 208 Pb.
English: Diagram of the thorium decay chain from lead-212 to lead-208. Each parent nuclide spontaneously decays into a daughter nuclide (the decay product) via an α decay or a β − decay. Note that bismuth-212 can either decay into polonium-212 or thallium-208.
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Thorium-cycle fuels produce hard gamma emissions, which damage electronics, limiting their use in bombs. 232 U cannot be chemically separated from 233 U from used nuclear fuel; however, chemical separation of thorium from uranium removes the decay product 228 Th and the radiation from the rest of the decay chain, which gradually build up as 228 Th