Radioactive decay
What Radioactive decay means in Physics A-Level, as defined for AQA.
Definitions of Radioactive decay
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Reference: AQA
The fading remnant is powered by the decay of nickel-56 and cobalt-56, giving a characteristic timescale of roughly 77 days.
Changes in N and Z in a nucleus, shown in simple decay equations for alpha, beta-minus, beta-plus and electron capture.
Topics that use Radioactive decay
- Nuclear instability (A-level only) (AQA A-Level)
- Supernovae, neutron stars and black holes (A-level only) (AQA A-Level)
Related terms
- Accretion
- Active galactic nuclei
- Alpha emission
- Beta-minus decay
- Beta-plus decay
- Black hole
- Chandrasekhar limit
- Conservation laws
Using Radioactive decay in the exam
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