What these two processes share is baked into the math of each. In fact, in that respect, they're nearly identical. They both involve some stuff (atoms or money) that is either growing or shrinking.

In this lesson, students will simulate the randomness of decay in radioactive atoms and visualize the half-life of a sample radioactive element. This lesson can be completed in two (2) 45-minute class ...

The radiation emitted from unstable nuclei is called ionising radiation because as it passes through matter it can dislodge outer electrons from atoms causing them to become ions. An alpha particle is ...

FOR ALL its eureka moments, science has taught us many unpalatable lessons about what we are powerless to do. We can’t dim the sun to remedy droughts or global warming. We can’t stave off the ravages ...

Radioactive decay is the strange and almost mystical ability for one element to naturally and spontaneously transmute into another. In the process, those elements tend to emit deadly forms of ...

Physicists in France have measured the longest ever radioactive half-life - over twenty billion billion years - in a naturally occurring element that decays by emitting alpha-particles. Nőel Coron and ...

After emitting an alpha or beta particle, the nucleus will often still be ‘excited’ and will need to lose energy. It does this by emitting a high energy electromagnetic wave called a gamma ray. Gamma ...

Introduction One way of creating energy is with nuclear reactors. These plants are generally safe, but occasionally there are accidents in which dangerous radioactive material escapes. You might have ...