WOW.com Web Search

Search results

  1. Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
  2. Half-life - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-life

    Half-life (symbol t½) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable atoms survive. The term is also used more generally to characterize any type of exponential (or, rarely ...

  3. Exponential decay - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_decay

    where the final substitution, N 0 = e C, is obtained by evaluating the equation at t = 0, as N 0 is defined as being the quantity at t = 0. This is the form of the equation that is most commonly used to describe exponential decay. Any one of decay constant, mean lifetime, or half-life is sufficient to characterise the decay.

  4. Radioactive decay - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_decay

    the half-life is related to the decay constant as follows: set N = N 0 /2 and t = T 1/2 to obtain t 1 / 2 = ln ⁡ 2 λ = τ ln ⁡ 2. {\displaystyle t_{1/2}={\frac {\ln 2}{\lambda }}=\tau \ln 2.} This relationship between the half-life and the decay constant shows that highly radioactive substances are quickly spent, while those that radiate ...

  5. List of equations in nuclear and particle physics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equations_in...

    Defining equation SI units Dimension Number of atoms ... Half-life of a radioisotope: t 1/2, T 1/2: Time taken for half the number of atoms present to decay ...

  6. Higgs boson - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson

    Parity. +1 [7] [8] The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, [9] [10] is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field, [11] [12] one of the fields in particle physics theory. [12] In the Standard Model, the Higgs particle is a massive scalar boson with zero ...

  7. Branching fraction - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branching_fraction

    In particle physics and nuclear physics, the branching fraction (or branching ratio) for a decay is the fraction of particles which decay by an individual decay mode or with respect to the total number of particles which decay. It applies to either the radioactive decay of atoms or the decay of elementary particles. [1]

  8. Radiocarbon dating - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating

    The half-life of a radioactive isotope (usually denoted by t 1/2) is a more familiar concept than the mean-life, so although the equations above are expressed in terms of the mean-life, it is more usual to quote the value of 14 C 's half-life than its mean-life. The currently accepted value for the half-life of 14 C is 5,700 ± 30 years.

  9. Half time (physics) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_time_(physics)

    Half time (physics) Half time is the time taken by a quantity to reach one half of its extremal value, where the rate of change is proportional to the difference between the present value and the extremal value (i.e. in exponential decay processes). It is synonymous with half-life, but used in slightly different contexts.