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Re: radioactivity



Is there not a functional relationship between the decay constant and the energy
of the emitted alpha?

Are not all alphas mono-energetic?

If the above is true, would not one be able to predict the decay constant
knowing the dimensions of the energy barrier and the alpha energy?

bc


Leigh Palmer wrote:

The strong force is sufficiently strong to stabilize the uranium
nucleus against decay. However, if a couple of protons team up with
a couple of neutrons to form a helium nucleus inside the uranium
nucleus (in a picture popularized by George Gamow, author of the
Mr. Tompkins books) they would have enough energy to escape to
infinity. The strong force still poses a barrier to their escape,
but after many tries and billions of years, on average, the helium
nucleus escapes by quantum mechanical tunneling, the same mechanism
that allows a car to leave a garage without opening the door in the
Mr. Tompkins books.

Leigh