What are the three types of radioactive decay?
- alpha (α)
- beta (β): positron emission and electron capture
- gamma (γ)
What is half-life (T½)?
Amount of time it takes for half of ALL the radioactive nuclei to decay into their daughter nuclei.
An alpha particle is similar to what?
Helium nucleus (2 protons and 2 neutrons).
What occurs during alpha decay (α decay)?
An unstable nucleus releases 2 protons and 2 neutrons.
What occurs during beta decay (β-decay)?
A neutron is broken down into a proton, which creates a beta particle.
What occurs during gamma decay (γ-decay)?
Gamma-rays, high-energy (high-frequency) photons are emitted with NO mass or charge.
What are the changes that occur during gamma decay?
- mass number stays the same
- atomic number stays the same
What changes occur during positron emission?
- mass number stays the same
- atomic number decreases by 1
What changes occur during beta decay?
- mass number stays the same
- atomic number increases by 1
What are the two types of beta decay?
- positron emission
- electron capture
For radioactive decay, what do semi log plots plot?
The logarithm of amount of atoms as a function of time.
What is radioactive decay?
Spontaneous decay of atoms to stablize the nucleus.
Which type of radioactive decay is the strongest? Weakest?
Gamma decay: strongest
Alpha decay: weakest
