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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.
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 radioactive dosage from consuming one banana is around 10 −7 sievert, or 0.1 microsievert, under the assumptions that all of the radiation produced by potassium-40 is absorbed in the body (which is mostly true, as the majority of the radiation is beta-minus radiation, which has a short range) and that the biological half life of potassium ...
The ground state, tantalum-180, is radioactive with half-life 8 hours; in contrast, the decay of the nuclear isomer is extremely strongly forbidden by spin-parity selection rules. It has been reported by direct observation that the half-life of 180m Ta to gamma decay must be >10 15 years.
Radon-222 (222 Rn, Rn-222, historically radium emanation or radon) is the most stable isotope of radon, with a half-life of approximately 3.8 days. It is transient in the decay chain of primordial uranium-238 and is the immediate decay product of radium-226.
Decay products are important in understanding radioactive decay and the management of radioactive waste. For elements above lead in atomic number, the decay chain typically ends with an isotope of lead or bismuth. Bismuth itself decays to thallium, but the decay is so slow as to be practically negligible.
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.
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.