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radioactivity
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decay of beryllium-7 decay of hafnium-180 decay of K0 meson Figure 4: The decay of a particle of mass M into two particles the sum of whose rest masses is less than M (see text). Fission
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decay of beryllium-7
decay of beryllium-7 Figure 1: Radioactive decay of beryllium-7 to lithium-7 by electron capture (EC; see text).

radioactivity

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Also known as: disintegration, nuclear disintegration, radioactive decay(Show More)
Written by
John O. Rasmussen
Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley. Author of "Models of Heavy Nuclei" in Nuclear Spectroscopy and others.
John O. RasmussenAll
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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radioactivity, property exhibited by certain types of matter of emitting energy and subatomic particles spontaneously. It is, in essence, an attribute of individual atomic nuclei. An unstable nucleus will decompose spontaneously, or decay, into a more stable configuration but will do so only in a few specific ways by emitting certain particles or certain forms of electromagnetic energy. Radioactive decay is a property of several naturally occurring elements as well as of artificially produced isotopes...

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