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Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is considered radioactive. Three of the most common types of decay are alpha, beta, and gamma decay.
There is a half-life describing any exponential-decay process. For example: As noted above, in radioactive decay the half-life is the length of time after which there is a 50% chance that an atom will have undergone nuclear decay. It varies depending on the atom type and isotope, and is usually determined experimentally. See List of nuclides.
For example, in beta decay, a nitrogen-16 atom (7 protons, 9 neutrons) is converted to an oxygen-16 atom (8 protons, 8 neutrons) [31] within a few seconds of being created. In this decay a neutron in the nitrogen nucleus is converted by the weak interaction into a proton, an electron and an antineutrino. The element is transmuted to another ...
Alpha decay or α-decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle (helium nucleus). The parent nucleus transforms or "decays" into a daughter product , with a mass number that is reduced by four and an atomic number that is reduced by two.
An example of positron emission (β + decay) is the decay of magnesium-23 into sodium-23 with a half-life of about 11.3 s: 23 12 Mg → 23 11 Na + e + + ν e. β + decay also results in nuclear transmutation, with the daughter element having an atomic number that is decreased by one. A beta spectrum, showing a typical division of energy between ...
Erosion of the 150-millimetre-thick (5.9 in) carbon steel reactor head at Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant, in Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, in 2002, caused by a persistent leak of borated water The Hanford Site, in Benton County, Washington, USA, represents two-thirds of America's high-level radioactive waste by volume.
Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and radiation. This decay, or loss of energy, results in an atom of one type (called the parent nuclide ) transforming to an atom of a different type (called the daughter nuclide ).
The decay scheme of a radioactive substance is a graphical presentation of all the transitions occurring in a decay, and of their relationships. Examples are shown below. It is useful to think of the decay scheme as placed in a coordinate system, where the vertical axis is energy, increasing from bottom to top, and the horizontal axis is the proton number, increasing from left to right.