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The shaded region is the continent of stability. [1] The boundary to the continent of stability is determined by the situations where the Coulomb energy due to electric charge overcomes the binding energy, or where decay into atomic nuclei results in lower energy. The lowest energy mass number is proportional to the cube of the charge (atomic ...
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]
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 ...
As in β decay, the decay product X′ has greater binding energy and it is closer to the middle of the valley of stability. The α particle carries away two neutrons and two protons, leaving a lighter nuclide. Since heavy nuclides have many more neutrons than protons, α decay increases a nuclide's neutron-proton ratio.
The longest-lived nuclides are also predicted to lie on the beta-stability line, for beta decay is predicted to compete with the other decay modes near the predicted center of the island, especially for isotopes of elements 111–115. Unlike other decay modes predicted for these nuclides, beta decay does not change the mass number.
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.
Also, the only even neutron numbers with only one beta-decay stable nuclide are 0 (1 H) and 2 (4 He); at least two beta-decay stable nuclides exist for even neutron numbers in the range 4 ≤ N ≤ 160, with exactly two for N = 4 (7 Li and 8 Be), 6 (11 B and 12 C), 8 (15 N and 16 O), 66 (114 Cd and 116 Sn, noting also primordial but not beta ...
Unstable isotopes decay through various radioactive decay pathways, most commonly alpha decay, beta decay, or electron capture. Many rare types of decay, such as spontaneous fission or cluster decay, are known. (See Radioactive decay for details.) [citation needed] Of the first 82 elements in the periodic table, 80 have isotopes considered to ...