- published: 27 Mar 2012
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The decay energy is the energy released by a radioactive decay. Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and radiation. This decay, or loss of energy, results in an atom of one type, called the parent nuclide transforming to an atom of a different type, called the daughter nuclide.
The energy difference of the reactants is often written as Q:
Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): Q = (\text{Kinetic energy})_{\text{after}} - (\text{Kinetic energy})_{\text{before}}\,\!
Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): Q = ((\text{Rest mass})_{\text{before}} \times c^2) - ((\text{Rest mass})_{\text{after}} \times c^2)\,\!
Decay energy is usually quoted in terms of the energy units MeV (million electronvolts) or KeV (thousand electronvolts).
Types of radioactive decay include
The decay energy is the mass difference dm between the parent and the daughter atom and particles. It is equal to the energy of radiation E. If A is the radioactive activity, i.e. the number of transforming atoms per time, M the molar mass, then the radiation power W is: Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): W = dm \times \left ( \frac{A}{M} \right )\,\!