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Decay heat. RTG pellet glowing red due to the heat generated by the radioactive decay of plutonium-238 dioxide, after a thermal isolation test. Decay heat is the heat released as a result of radioactive decay. This heat is produced as an effect of radiation on materials: the energy of the alpha, beta or gamma radiation is converted into the ...
Ionizing radiation (US) (or ionising radiation [UK] ), including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. [1] Some particles can travel up to 99% of the speed of light, and the electromagnetic waves are on the high ...
A radiogenic nuclide is a nuclide that is produced by a process of radioactive decay. It may itself be radioactive (a radionuclide) or stable (a stable nuclide ). Radiogenic nuclides (more commonly referred to as radiogenic isotopes) form some of the most important tools in geology. They are used in two principal ways:
Carbon-14. C or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues (1949) to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples.
Tritium (from Ancient Greek τρίτος (trítos) 'third') or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or 3 H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with half-life ~12.3 years. The nucleus of tritium (t, sometimes called a triton) contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of the common isotope hydrogen-1 (protium) contains one proton and zero neutrons, and that of a non-radioactive ...
In nuclear physics, a decay product (also known as a daughter product, daughter isotope, radio-daughter, or daughter nuclide) is the remaining nuclide left over from radioactive decay. Radioactive decay often proceeds via a sequence of steps ( decay chain ). For example, 238 U decays to 234 Th which decays to 234m Pa which decays, and so on, to ...
Radioactivity is generally used in life sciences for highly sensitive and direct measurements of biological phenomena, and for visualizing the location of biomolecules radiolabelled with a radioisotope . All atoms exist as stable or unstable isotopes and the latter decay at a given half-life ranging from attoseconds to billions of years ...
A beta particle, also called beta ray or beta radiation (symbol β ), is a high-energy, high-speed electron or positron emitted by the radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus during the process of beta decay. There are two forms of beta decay, β − decay and β + decay, which produce electrons and positrons respectively. [2]