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Radioactivity
Chapter 8 of Chemistry live
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Radioactivity | the spontaneous breaking up of unstable nuclei with the emission of radiation |
what happens when an atom loses an alpha particle | It changes into the atom 2 places before it in the periodic table and its mass number is reduced by 4. |
what happens when an atom loses a beta particle | it changes into an atom 1 place after it in the periodic table, & the mass number stays the same |
Half-life | the time taken for half the nuclei of an element to decay |
Example of Alpha | Americium 241 |
Example of Beta | Carbon 14 |
Example of Gamma | Cobalt 60 |