Radioactive decay

Radioactive decay is a phenomenon in which unstable atoms emit their energy in the form of particles or electromagnetic waves. It is a random event, so we are not able to predict what core and when it will transform. Radioactive decay is determined by the so-called decay constant, which has a different value for each radioisotope. There are 3 basic types of decay – alpha, beta and gamma.

Table showing the characteristics of individual types of decay:

Related Articles

 * Effective, physical and biological half-life

Resources

 * BENEŠ, Jiří, Daniel JIRÁK and František VÍTEK. Basics of medical physics. 4th edition. Prague: Karolinum publishing house, 2015.  ISBN 978-80-246-2645-1.