Talk:Radioactive decay

message: Hi i was just wondering why it isnt explicitly pointed out that for an atom to be considered radioactivelly decaying it would have to be emitting ionizing radiation. Without ionizing explicitly being stated, emittance of infrared radiation could also be considered radioactive decay, no? "Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation" it is not clear if in this sentence "unstable" is ment as a vague term, or in the physics sense of the atom containing more energy than its ground state. If the latter, once again, the absorption of lets say yellow light which results in for example the emittance of infrared radiation could be considered radioactive decay. I am in no way trying to be rude, i just ran into this problem while trying to understand the exact definition of radioactive decay. If i was wrong anywhere in my comment please do point it out. 
Greetings, 
Sander  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sander721 (talk • contribs) 23:05, 5 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for the suggestion. I suspect that "ionizing radiation" was not mentioned because it is a somewhat old-fashioned term not much used now. However I found it mentioned in an introductory chemistry text and attributed to the Curies, so I have now included it in the History section, as well as a link to the article Ionizing radiation which explains it in detail. Dirac66 (talk) 20:06, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: If "ionizing radiation" is old fashioned, then perhaps you could say what modern terminology is used to denote radiation that is able to ionize chemical substances, as distinct from radiation that cannot do so. 2600:4041:DF:9600:4503:4891:B9B:EE5E (talk) 12:12, 14 September 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: The modern terminology used to describe each radioactive decay process is to identify the exact particles emitted in each decay process as α particles, β particles, γ rays etc. However I will admit that the term "ionizing radiation" is still accurate as a general term, and is still used in many other contexts. See the article Ionizing radiation for more detail. Dirac66 (talk) 15:17, 14 September 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  definition of radioactive decay 

message: Hi everyone. I just wanted to ask about the table displaying the radioactive decay modes, since I'm currently working on the "Isotopes of" pages. While I was editing some of the pages, I found that NUBASE2020 lists a couple of decay modes that are not mentioned in the table. Furthermore, there is some notation that I'm not really sure how to go about adding it to the decay modes:
(note: "α" is used in the paper (PDF page 19) as an example)
"α ?   means that the α-decay mode is energetically allowed, but not experimentally observed
α=?   means that the α-decay is observed, but its intensity is not experimentally known"
Thanks! :)
– MeasureWell (talk) 01:44, 2 February 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I would generally favour listing in an encyclopedia only what has been observed. So modes marked "α ? by NUBASE I would omit entirely, and modes marked α=? by NUBASE I would list as α-emitters but not mention the intensity. Dirac66 (talk) 19:55, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Question merged into , foer example on how to note these in the ~118 Big Isotopes Tables.  -DePiep (talk) 10:18, 3 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  On the decay modes in the table 

message: what happens in real life connections to these elements? 2A02:6D40:3405:7201:C4D:F8BE:4256:6032 (talk) 17:07, 25 February 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Some radioactive isotopes (not all) have practical applications, which are often mentioned in the articles on isotopes of each element. Dirac66 (talk) 19:59, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  science 

message: *  I've put table  live as is, using all data rows (modes) in NUBASE 2020.
:;See  in 
::Edits can be made in live .
::Subheaders could be re-entered.
::Doc to be updated.
::When stable, development-data could be removed.
: -DePiep (talk) 05:37, 7 June 2022 (UTC)
thread_title: NUBASE 2020 table: now live

message: An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect :Radioactive materials and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 April 28#Radioactive material until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion.  Oiyarbepsy (talk) 05:12, 28 April 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Radioactive materials" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]] 

message: @DePiep: Would it be possible to edit the line Cluster decay in your table? Normally I would do it myself, but I cannot find the source code to modify.
Suggested changes: 1. Mode column: Delete 24Ne because it is not the only possible cluster emitted. 2. Action column: Add at the end: Examples C-14 and Ne-24. (These are 2 of the most frequent examples as per the list in the article Cluster decay. Dirac66 (talk) 16:02, 29 October 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: DePiep has been community banned since May, so he's not able to respond. I think I've done what you asked. Double sharp (talk) 08:44, 28 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  List of decay modes: Cluster decay 

message: — Assignment last updated by Ahlluhn (talk) 00:57, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: 4A Wikipedia Assignment