Can Beta and Alpha Decay Occur From the Same Nucleous?

Most recent answer: 10/16/2014

Q:
do alpha beta and gamma rays come from the same element?
- MUBASHIR AWAN (age 19)
KARACHI(PAKISTAN)
A:

Hello MUBASHIR AWAN,

Most radioactive nuclei decay by either one or the other process.   The dominant one is determined by available energy and phase space.   A few odd nuclei have both processes about equal.  For example 

212Bi  will beta decay into 212Po  64% of the time and 208Tl  36% of the time.  

LeeH


(published on 10/16/2014)