radioactivity pt 2

Isotope

Atoms of the same element that have different mass numbers due to differing numbers of neutrons.

Nuclide

An isotope of an element, often denoted as AZX.

Parent Nuclide

The unstable nuclide that undergoes radioactive decay.

Daughter Nuclide

The nuclide resulting from the decay of a parent nuclide.

Radioactive Decay

The spontaneous change of an unstable nuclide into another, resulting in a stable nucleus and various particles.

Alpha Decay

A type of radioactive decay where an alpha particle is emitted from a nucleus.

Beta Decay

A type of radioactive decay where a neutron is converted into a proton and an electron (beta particle) is emitted.

Gamma Decay

A type of radioactive decay involving the emission of gamma radiation.

Geiger Counter

A device used to detect and measure ionizing radiation.

Becquerel (Bq)

The SI unit for the rate of radioactive decay, equal to one disintegration per second.

Curie (Ci)

A larger unit of radioactivity equivalent to 3.7×10^{10} disintegrations per second.

Sievert (Sv)

The SI unit measuring tissue damage caused by radiation, taking energy and biological effects into account.

Half-Life

The time required for the concentration of a reactant to decrease by half.

Accuracy

The closeness of a measurement to the true value.

Precision

The closeness of repeated measurements to each other.

Error

The difference between the measured value and the true value.

Standard Deviation

A statistic that measures how values are dispersed around the mean.

Rate of Reaction

The change in the amount of reactant or product per unit of time.

Integrated Rate Laws

Equations that relate concentration to time for different order reactions.

Zero-Order Reaction

A reaction whose rate is independent of the concentration of the reactant.

First-Order Reaction

A reaction whose rate is directly proportional to the concentration of one reactant.

Second-Order Reaction

A reaction whose rate is proportional to the square of the concentration of one reactant.