Uranium. Most current power reactors use Uranium enriched to 3% Uranium-235.
Uranium
That means that some of the atoms will decay over time.
The answer is not so simple: - the chemical compound may be stable frequently (at a molecular scale) - but one of the elements in the formula (radioactive) is unstable - sometimes the radiations emitted by the radioactive element can destroy the molecule: the consequence of a radiochemical reaction as radiolysis.
Nuclear reactions may or may not involve nuclear transmutation. We need to split hairs here to arrive at the correct answer, and the answer involves the definition of the word transmutation. We sometimes think of transmutation as the changing of one element to another. Fission and fusion reactions do this, and many kinds of radioactive decay also convert one element into another. But there are some kinds of nuclear reactions that do not change an atom from one element to another, but instead change it from one isotope of a given element into another isotope of that element. There are a number of examples of this, and one is where isotopes of a given element absorb a neutron and become another isotope of that element. A given nucleus incorporates the neutron into its nuclear arrangement and the next heavier isotope of that element is created. If a "strict" definition of transmutation is used where it means a nuclear reaction that changes one element into another, then no, this does not always happen as illustrated above with the example of neutron absorption. If a more general interpretation of the term is used where we say that the nucleus transmutes meaning changes configuration, then yes, nuclear reactions involve nuclear transmutation.
The half-life can not be changed by any normal means.
When we use the term radioisotope, this means an isotope of an element that emits radiation, whether alpha, beta, or gamma in nature. Sometimes an element that is found in nature is not radioactive, but an isotope that is artificially produced by exposing the element to neutrons in a reactor, can often be found to be radioactive, because an extra neutron has been added to the nucleus. The nucleus has the same number of protons so is the same element, but the nucleus is now unstable and has become radioactive. Not all elements behave the same way. If you look up a particular element in Wikipedia you will find if it has radioisotopes in the details, and what sort of nuclear radiation is produced.
This will happen naturally if the element is radioactive and can be done artificially by means of neutron bombardment in a nuclear reactor or in the heart of a star.
It means the element is unstable and gives off dangerous particles.
this is because an element is sometimes never radioactive but one may be made just to be radioactive this is because an element is sometimes never radioactive but one may be made just to be radioactive
It means something that comes from nuclear stuff im pretty sure...
That means that some of the atoms will decay over time.
No, nothing to do with nuclear. Biomass means vegetable matter grown for burning, and comes under Renewable Energy as it can be regrown every season.
An element can only change if the number of protons in its nucleus changes. It is possible to make one kind of element into another, but all these processes can be accomplished only by nuclear means. Gold can be changed into another element in a physics lab, but only with the use of a nuclear reactor or an accelerator of some kind. Any element can be changed into another element, but only by nuclear means.
Yes, but not by chemical means, only by radioactive transmutation.
It means that massive nuclei break apart.
The answer is not so simple: - the chemical compound may be stable frequently (at a molecular scale) - but one of the elements in the formula (radioactive) is unstable - sometimes the radiations emitted by the radioactive element can destroy the molecule: the consequence of a radiochemical reaction as radiolysis.
The half-life can not be changed by any normal means.
Nuclear reactions may or may not involve nuclear transmutation. We need to split hairs here to arrive at the correct answer, and the answer involves the definition of the word transmutation. We sometimes think of transmutation as the changing of one element to another. Fission and fusion reactions do this, and many kinds of radioactive decay also convert one element into another. But there are some kinds of nuclear reactions that do not change an atom from one element to another, but instead change it from one isotope of a given element into another isotope of that element. There are a number of examples of this, and one is where isotopes of a given element absorb a neutron and become another isotope of that element. A given nucleus incorporates the neutron into its nuclear arrangement and the next heavier isotope of that element is created. If a "strict" definition of transmutation is used where it means a nuclear reaction that changes one element into another, then no, this does not always happen as illustrated above with the example of neutron absorption. If a more general interpretation of the term is used where we say that the nucleus transmutes meaning changes configuration, then yes, nuclear reactions involve nuclear transmutation.