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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.
Many of these bit-flips would probably be attributable to hardware problems, but some could be attributed to alpha particles. [1] These bit-flip errors may be taken advantage of by malicious actors in the form of bitsquatting. Isaac Asimov received a letter congratulating him on an accidental prediction of alpha-particle RAM errors in a 1950s ...
Examples of this sort of nuclear transmutation by alpha decay are the decay of uranium to thorium, and that of radium to radon. Alpha particles are commonly emitted by all of the larger radioactive nuclei such as uranium, thorium, actinium, and radium, as well as the transuranic elements. Unlike other types of decay, alpha decay as a process ...
Any decay daughters that are the result of an alpha decay will also result in helium atoms being created. Some radionuclides may have several different paths of decay. For example, 35.94(6) % [27] of bismuth-212 decays, through alpha-emission, to thallium-208 while 64.06(6) % [27] of bismuth-212 decays, through beta-emission, to polonium-212.
One type of natural transmutation observable in the present occurs when certain radioactive elements present in nature spontaneously decay by a process that causes transmutation, such as alpha or beta decay. An example is the natural decay of potassium-40 to argon-40, which forms most of the argon in the air.
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.
Radon-222 itself alpha decays to polonium-218 with a half-life of approximately 3.82 days, making it the most stable isotope of radon. [1] Its final decay product is stable lead-206. In theory, 222 Rn is capable of double beta decay to 222 Ra, and depending on the mass measurement, single beta decay to 222 Fr may also be allowed.
Alpha spectrometry (also known as alpha(-particle) spectroscopy) is the quantitative study of the energy of alpha particles emitted by a radioactive nuclide that is an alpha emitter. As emitted alpha particles are mono-energetic (i.e. not emitted with a spectrum of energies, such as beta decay ) with energies often distinct to the decay they ...