alpha decay
- Key People:
- Owen Chamberlain
alpha decay, type of radioactive disintegration in which some unstable atomic nuclei dissipate excess energy by spontaneously ejecting an alpha particle. Because alpha particles have two positive charges and a mass of four units, their emission from nuclei produces daughter nuclei having a positive nuclear charge or atomic number two units less than their parents and a mass of four units less. Thus polonium-210 (mass number 210 and atomic number 84, i.e., a nucleus with 84 protons) decays by alpha emission to lead-206 (atomic number 82).
The speed and hence the energy of an alpha particle ejected from a given nucleus is a specific property of the parent nucleus and determines the characteristic range or distance the alpha particle travels. Though ejected at speeds of about one-tenth that of light, alpha particles are not very penetrating. They have ranges in air of only a few centimetres (corresponding to an energy range of about 4 million to 10 million electron volts).
The principal alpha emitters are found among the elements heavier than bismuth (atomic number 83) and also among the rare-earth elements from neodymium (atomic number 60) to lutetium (atomic number 71). Half-lives for alpha decay range from about a microsecond (10−6 second) to about 1017 seconds (over 3 billion years).
