Nuclear decay is a quantum mechanical process, mediated by the weak and strong nuclear forces. All quantum mechanical processes are probabilistic, not deterministic.
Matter can be made to undergo nuclear decay in reactors, but it is a process that occurs spontaneously in nature.
what are the forms of nuclear decay
nuclear decay, such as alpha decay or beta decay.
The weak nuclear force is responsible for causing certain types of radioactive decay in particles, such as beta decay. It is one of the four fundamental forces in nature, along with gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong nuclear force.
Random decay refers to the spontaneous breakdown or disintegration of atomic nuclei without external influence, leading to the emission of radiation such as alpha, beta, or gamma particles. This process occurs unpredictably and is governed by the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics, resulting in an exponential decay of radioactive isotopes over time.
All nuclear decay is spontaneous.
Alpha nuclear decay
yep, sure are
The rate of nuclear decay increases as the temperature of a radioactive sample increases. This is due to the increased kinetic energy of the nuclei at higher temperatures, which facilitates interactions that lead to nuclear decay.
Nuclear fusion and nuclear fission are processes that involve nuclear reactions but are not examples of radioactive decay. Chemical reactions, such as burning wood, do not involve nuclear processes and are also not examples of radioactive decay.
That depends on the nuclear decay type. For gamma decay, the identity does NOT change, but for alpha and beta, it does.
There is a simple connection between the random nature of nuclear decay and the half-life of a radionuclide. Any given atom of a radioactive element can undergo decay "any time it wants to" in the real world. This is the random nature of radioactive decay. We absolutely cannot tell whenthat one atom of whatever it is will decide to decay. The nuclear decay will happen when "it wants to" and we can only speak to the decay event of a given radionuclide by statistical means.We look at a vast number of the same kind of atoms and count the decay events. We do this over some determined interval of time, which can be shorter or longer, depending on how unstable the given radioisotope is. We'll then use our knowledge of how much we had to begin with and how many decay events we observed over out observation period to calculate how long it takes "about half" the material to decay. That's what a half-life is. It's a statistically derived span of time during which half the amount of a (sufficiently sized) sample of a specific radionuclide will decay and half will be left to undergo decay later on.