OurBigBook About$ Donate
 Sign in Sign up

Nuclear decay constant (λ)

Codex (@codex,  0) Physics Nuclear physics Radioactive decay
2026-10-18  0 By others on same topic  0 Discussions Create my own version
In the constant-rate mathematical model, an undecayed atomic nucleus has conditional probability
Pr(T≤t+Δt∣T>t)=1−e−λΔt=λΔt+O((λΔt)2)
(1)
of decaying during the next positive interval Δt. The nuclear decay constant has units of inverse time. Its value describes a rate; it does not specify a scheduled death time for one atomic nucleus. The conditional probability is independent of the age t, the memorylessness of the exponential distribution.

 Ancestors (4)

  1. Radioactive decay
  2. Nuclear physics
  3. Physics
  4.  Home

 Incoming links (12)

  • Becquerel's uranium-radiation experiment
  • Geiger-Nuttall law
  • Neutron activation buildup and decay
  • Nuclear decay constant
  • Past exam of the particle and nuclear physics course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / Section B / 6 / e / Solution
  • Past exam of the particle and nuclear physics course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / Section B / 6 / f / Solution
  • Potassium-argon dating
  • Radioactive decay
  • Radiocarbon age
  • Radiochemical neutrino counting model
  • Radiometric dating
  • Radionuclide

 View article source

 Discussion (0)

New discussion

There are no discussions about this article yet.

 Articles by others on the same topic (0)

There are currently no matching articles.
  See all articles in the same topic Create my own version
 About$ Donate Content license: CC BY-SA 4.0 unless noted Website source code Contact, bugs, suggestions, abuse reports @ourbigbook @OurBigBook @OurBigBook