Definition of Radioactive decay

1. Noun. The spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation.

Exact synonyms: Decay, Disintegration
Specialized synonyms: Alpha Decay, Beta Decay
Generic synonyms: Nuclear Reaction
Derivative terms: Decay, Disintegrate, Disintegrate

Definition of Radioactive decay

1. Noun. (physics) Any of several processes by which unstable nuclei emit subatomic particles and/or ionizing radiation and disintegrate into one or more smaller nuclei. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Radioactive decay

1. The process by which a spontaneous change in nuclear state takes place. This process is accompanied by the emission of energy in various specific combinations of electromagnetic and corpuscular radiation and neutrinos. (16 Dec 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Radioactive Decay

radio wave
radio waves
radioacoustics
radioactinium
radioactivate
radioactivated
radioactivates
radioactivating
radioactive
radioactive atom
radioactive constant
radioactive contamination
radioactive cow
radioactive dating
radioactive datings
radioactive decay (current term)
radioactive dust
radioactive equilibrium
radioactive fallout
radioactive fallouts
radioactive iodide uptake test
radioactive iodine
radioactive iodine excretion test
radioactive iodine test
radioactive iodine uptake test
radioactive isotope
radioactive material
radioactive pollutants
radioactive probe
radioactive thyroxine

Literary usage of Radioactive decay

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Nuclear Energy Today by OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (2003)
"The result is that the earth's crust is naturally full of not only uranium and thorium but also their radioactive decay products, such that the earth itself ..."

2. Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure by Brer, National Research Council (2005)
"... the biological half-time does not include elimination by radioactive decay. Half-life, effective: The time required for the activity of a radioactive ..."

3. Fluid Flow Through Faults and Fractures in Argillaceous Formations by Nuclear Energy Agency (1998)
"After radioactive decay with time, experimental points define a linear array called isochron. This crystallization age of the analysed samples is given by ..."

4. Electricity and Magnetism by Benjamin Crowell (2002)
"Proton emission is fairly rare, however; a more common type of radioactive decay in heavy nuclei is alpha decay, shown in (d). The imbalance of the forces ..."

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