Radioactive decay
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Radioactive decay is a variety of processes during which atomic nuclides emit subatomic particles called radiation. Decay happens in what is called a parent nuclide, and the process produces a daughter nuclide. Daughter nuclides are usually always unstable, but can sometimes be more unstable than the parent nuclide. If this happens it will decay again, and will keep decaying until it produces a stable nuclide, this is called a decay chain.
An atom's nucleus will decay if there is a group of particles with a lower total mass that can be reached by several types of decay or by nuclear fission (nucleus splits into smaller nuclei). All elements having an atomic number higher than 83 (the atomic number of bismuth) are radioactive. In addition, a number of elements having lower atomic numbers do have naturally occurring radioactive isotopes. Nuclear physicists have also made two synthetic elements having atomic numbers less than 83 to fill two gaps in the periodic table; both of these are radioactive.
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Types of Radioactivity
Radio nuclides go through several different reactions:
- Alpha decay- Two protons and two neutrons emitted from nucleus
- Beta decay- A neutron emits an electron and an antineutrino and becomes a proton
- Gamma decay- Excited nucleus releases a high-energy photon
- Positron emission- A proton emits a positron and a neutrino and becomes a neutrino
- Internal conversion- Excited nucleus transfers energy to an orbiting electron and ejects it
- Proton emission- A proton is ejected from nucleus
- Neutron emission- A neutron is ejected from nucleus
- Electron capture- A proton combines with an orbiting electron, emits a neutrino and becomes a neutron
- Spontaneous fission- Nucleus disintegrates into two or more random smaller nuclei and other particles
- Cluster decay- Nucleus emits a certain type of smaller nucleus that are larger than an alpha particle
- Double-beta decay- two neutrons emit two electrons and two antineutrons become two protons
Uses of Radioactive decay
Describe the uses of radioactive decay here.
Nuclear Powerplants
Age Dating
Radioactive Tracers
Cancer Treatment
Sterilizing
Smoke Detectors
Genetic Studies
Some references:
- Radioactivity Uses
- Beneficial Uses of Radiation by the Nuclear Energy Institute
Rate of Radioactive Decay
- Main Article: Accelerated decay
Every radioactive element or isotope decays at its own rate. The most common published statistic on the rate of decay of any radionuclide is the half-life. This is the hypothetical amount of time that must pass for half of the element or isotope to decay to its next daughter nuclide. Under normal circumstances, an isotope's half-life does not change, nor has any nuclear physicist ever produced a change in any isotope's half-life. However, the RATE Group has developed clear and convincing evidence that the half-lives of all then-naturally-occurring radioactive elements was accelerated greatly at the time of the Global Flood--and furthermore, this change might have triggered that event.
Discovery of Radioactivity
Radioactivity was first discovered in 1896 by a French scientist, Henri Becquerel, while he was experimenting with phosphorescent material. Phosphorescent materials glow after they have been exposed to light. Becquerel thought that if the glow was produced in cathode ray tubes it may show how they are linked with phosphorescence. To do this he tried wrapping a photographic plate in black paper and expose it to different phosphorescent materials. All the results came out negative, until he tried it with uranium salts, this caused the plate itself to become black. Becqueral realized the reaction had nothing to do with phosphorescence, because the plate became black when the mineral was kept in dark. Also uranium salts and metallic uranium blackened the plate in this way. So obviously the plate was exposed to some new form of radiation that made the plate underneath the black paper turn black.
Related References
Creationist References
- Nuclear Decay: Evidence for a Young World by Russell Humphreys. ICR Impact 352, October 2002
Secular References
- Radioactive decay by Wikipedia
- Radioactive Decays by The Virtual Visitor Center (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center)
- Radioactivity by GCSE
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