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. </dd>

References

This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use