What happens to the atoms that go through half life?

Question

Do they turn into something new? I really do not know. Could someone please clarify what happens to the half of the atoms that are not counted after the element's half life?

Answer 1

Half-life = the time it takes half a sample of a radioactive element to decay.



Radioactive decay involves the loss of alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays.



If a beta particle is sent out, the atomic number goes up by 1. This is because a neutron breaks down into a proton and an electron, and the electron is shot out. No change in mass.



If an alpha particle is sent out, the atomic number goes down by 2 and the mass goes down by 4. alpha particles being helium nuclei.



The new elements formed are called daughter nuclides.



In the second half-life, half of the remaining sample will decay. Then in the third time period, half of that remaining sample will decay.

Answer 2

Yes, they turn into something new -- another kind of atom, one with a different number of protons, or neutrons, or both.



Recall that half-life is not a process, but a time interval -- the time required for one half of the atoms in a radioactive sample to undergo decay. When one half-life has elapsed, half of the original atoms are still there, unchanged (yet). They are simply the ones whose random chance of decay has not yet come up. After another half-life, one quarter of the original atoms will remain unchanged, and so on -- one eighth, one sixteenth....

Just which atoms will have decayed during any interval is entirely unpredictable, however, and the half-life of a given kind of radionuclide cannot be changed.



A daughter nuclide is the product of the radioactive decay of another atom's nucleus (a nuclide). The term 'daughter' is used because, often, such a nuclide is still unstable and can give rise to (analogous to "giving birth to") yet another kind of nucleus.

Answer 3

a nil.5 existence is many times utilized to radioactive atoms, the place the radioactive atom is volatile and turns right into a competent diverse atom with the aid of emitting e.g. electrons and/or gamma radiation. hence 0.5 the pattern transformations into something else. It does not disappear. generally means ought to get released interior the technique and that merely dissipates/gets diluted.