Observing the recoil caused by a single radioactive decay could help physicists spot exotic particles and possibly even dark matter. Radioactive decay is ubiquitous. It occurs everywhere on Earth and ...

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Alpha decay represents a fundamental mode of radioactive disintegration wherein an unstable nucleus emits an alpha particle—a tightly bound cluster of two protons and two neutrons. This process not ...

Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces from Imperial College London. Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and ...

Radioactivity, discovered more than 100 years ago and studied by physicists ever since, would seem to be a relatively closed subject in science. However, since the 1960s, the pursuit of at least one ...

The questions in this quiz are suitable for GCSE physics students studying stable nuclei, nuclear radiation, half life and nuclear equations. If you struggled with the quiz, don't panic - we've got ...

Hickory dickory dock, this nucleus could make a great clock. A special variety of the element thorium hosts an atomic nucleus that could be used to keep time, scientists say. In a first, researchers ...

Back in 2007, physicists at the GSI heavy ion accelerator in Darmstadt, Germany, made a puzzling discovery. These guys were measuring the radioactive decay rates of praseodymium and promethium nuclei ...

For the first time, researchers have directly observed an exotic type of radioactive decay called two-neutrino double electron capture. The decay, seen in xenon-124 atoms, happens so sparingly that it ...

In a random moment, all energy is lost. The unstable subject cannot help but decay, slowly but surely, letting go of particles to become stable. It loses itself to become balanced again. This is a ...