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radioactive series |
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radioactive seriesAny of four sets of unstable heavy atomic nuclei that undergo a series of alpha decay and beta decay until a stable nucleus is achieved. The natural series are the thorium series, the uranium series, and the actinium series. These are headed by naturally occurring species of unstable nuclei that have half-lives comparable to the age of the earth. The fourth set, the neptunium series, is headed by neptunium-237, which has a half-life of 2 million years. Its members do not occur naturally but are artificially produced by nuclear reactions and have short half-lives. |
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All the isotopes in the decay chain from our claim, you can forget about," he says. For instance, isotopes of elements 112 and 108 in the decay chain lasted 15 minutes and 17 minutes, respectively, before disintegrating. As gases, each of these is the only member of its family's decay chain that can percolate from its source in rocks or soil through cracks into a building. |
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