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| Nuclear physics |
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High-energy processes |
Innuclear physics, adecay product (also known as adaughter product,daughter isotope,radio-daughter, ordaughter nuclide) is the remainingnuclide left over fromradioactive decay. Radioactive decay often proceeds via a sequence of steps (decay chain). For example,238U decays to234Th which decays to234mPa which decays, and so on, to206Pb (which is stable):
In this example:
These might also be referred to as the daughter products of238U.[1]
Decay products are important in understanding radioactive decay and the management ofradioactive waste.
For elements abovelead inatomic number, the decay chain typically ends with anisotope of lead orbismuth. Bismuth itself decays tothallium, but the decay is so slow as to be practically negligible.
In many cases, individual members of the decay chain are as radioactive as the parent, but far smaller in volume/mass. Thus, although uranium is not dangerously radioactive when pure, some pieces of naturally occurringpitchblende are quite dangerous owing to theirradium-226 content,[2] which is soluble and not a ceramic like the parent. Similarly,thoriumgas mantles are very slightly radioactive when new, but become more radioactive after only a few months of storage as the daughters of232Th build up.
Although it cannot be predicted whether any given atom of a radioactive substance will decay at any given time, the decay products of a radioactive substance are extremely predictable. Because of this, decay products are important to scientists in many fields who need to know the quantity or type of the parent product. Such studies are done to measure pollution levels (in and around nuclear facilities) and for other matters.
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