Sentences with phrase «undergoing radioactive decay»

In addition, if the melted nuclear fuel proves bad enough — like Chernobyl's lethal mass of molten core known as the «elephant's foot» — it will have to be entombed for a number of years rather than removed, because of radiation risk from what is essentially a cooled shell of ceramic armor surrounding a highly radioactive core that remains hot and is still undergoing radioactive decay.

Deep underground, uranium atoms in rocks undergo radioactive decay, sending off alpha particles — two protons and two neutrons — that can bump into other molecules and change them.

Tungsten contains one isotope of mass 182 that is created when an isotope of the element hafnium undergoes radioactive decay, meaning its elemental composition changes as it gives off radiation.

As more and more neutrons pile up in the atom's nucleus, the neutrons undergo a radioactive decay, turning into protons.

Because carbon 14 is unstable, it undergoes radioactive decay, and through this radioactivity it can be tracked as it moves around in the atmosphere.

Not exact matches

For example, an electron neutrino — more precisely, an electron antineutrino — emerges when an atomic nucleus such as tritium undergoes a type of radioactive decay called «β decay» and turns into a slightly less massive helium - 3 nucleus while spitting out an electron and an antineutrino.

Uranium - 235 undergoes spontaneous fission during radioactive decay; however, no standard equation can represent this reaction as its results are quite unpredictable.