Difference between revisions of "Decay"
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Decay
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Decrease of a radioactive
substance because of nuclear
emission of alpha or beta particles, positrons, or gamma rays. See radioactivity.
In beta decay, for example, the emission of a Missing Image:img src="SP7-d_files/betasm.gif"-particle, i.e., an electron, causes radioactive
change into a daughter element of the same atomic weight as the parent element
but of atomic number higher by 1.
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References
This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use