How Radioactive Decay Works - Ask a Spaceman!

[@Quadrant14]

Thanks Paul for showing me how little I know, as usual , but I love it

[@TheMemesofDestruction]

Thank you for this explanation Professor Sutter! ^.^

[@Nebuch]

That potential to decay-tunneling is fascinating. At that scale waves react boundaries like other waves and hard to picture but really fascinating.

[@DavidJohnson-pp4sy]

Easily my favourite science podcast. Even if don't always understand the science, I certainly get the humour. Thanks as ever, Paul.

[@simba9825]

You paint the best visuals. Loved "sloshing bag of goo".

[@CepheiVV]

5:20 , correction, I think it's neutron->proton, not the other way around

[@fieryweasel]

Beta-positive decay is a proton spontaneously becoming a neutron and emitting a positron. There are two types of beta decay (well, more than that but those are the two most common types).

[@urieowrjdf]

I have been searching for this explanation and finally found it! Thank you.

[@malcolmlane1489]

love your work keep on going

[@bryandraughn9830]

I was hoping you might say more about the half life deal. it seems very strange that a large number of atoms will decay in a given time if the sample is large, but very few will decay in the same amount of time for a small sample. This particular example of a quantum process has always made me wonder if there's more that I might learn about it. Great videos! Thanks for sharing this knowledge!

[@shashankchandra1068]

@5:24 proton becoming neutron is spontaneous? No external force is required?

[@darylmorse]

Another great video. Thanks for sharing. Your channel should be on any science geek's watch list.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I like envisioning atomic structures as amebas as well. You know how that "most up close image" of the sun's surface looked? Like a bunch of single celled amorphic moving shapes all interacting but distinctly separate, individual, but interacting with some force in some locations where the multiple forces combine to create them to clump up into groups. (That's how I like to imagine it) even if it's incorrect, it's fun to imagine.

[@rwomble1]

Good way of explaining half-life and dating!

[@earthexpanded]

If 1) a supernova of a star is considered the simultaneous radioactive decay of all atoms of the star, 2) supernova type 1a, always release the same amount of energy, then Can these be the same mechanics as radioactive decay and nuclear fusion (type 1a) on a different scale?

[@ChristiaanCorthals]

At time index 1:33 and further, isn't "Barcquerel Rays" a couple of times misspelled? Also in the part "Bacquerel and the Curies". The scientist's name is Becquerel.

[@shashankchandra1068]

@12:12 has anyone ever predicted/guessed correctly the time period taken for uranium or any other radioactive atom to decay? What causes that uncertainity??(i.e microsecond 10 second 1 million second 1 billion years)

[@Unstoppable_Ducky]

Does anyone know where I can ask Paul a question, because I have quite a few theories/questions.

[@KafshakTashtak]

To my understanding, quantum tunneling is because of evanescent waves. Even Yue image at 11:44 is showing the evanescent wave. But how does that happen in the scale of the atomic nucleus?

[@russellneitzke4972]

Quantum tunneling seems easier to fathom if you loose the orbiting spheres and think about the particles as fields. Does quantum tunneling just mean the field strength of a particle gets stronger outside the electron shells? Is the strength of the particle field the weak nuclear force?

[@GretudeMenwube]

Good explanation

[@shashankchandra1068]

How does down quark convert into up quark in beta minus decay? In wiki it says that down quark enters into superposition of up quarks while converting into up quark what causes this superposition?

[@kenfaulds8818]

Thank you. Great video 🎶👍

[@suyashjha679]

Prof . Paul I've got a general question related to double slit experiment .In double slit experiment subatomic particles form wave patterns . Well that's cool .My question is do all the subatomic particles form the same wave patterns?? For example whether an electron and a photon would form the same wave patterns??

[@amreshyadav2758]

yes all subatomic particles

[@ZeroOskul]

Keep kickin' hat ass, Man!

[@jasonwiley798]

Why does betaa decay occur? If an electron is produced in beta decay and it is negatively charges, shouldn't it be attracted to the positively charged nucleus and thus never escape. What causes the electron to be ejected from thenucleus.

[@parkey5]

Hey Paul, If the protons are positively charged and repelling each other, doesn't this make them a magnetic monopole? Can you please help me understand why they are not a magnetic monopole but do repel one another? Great video, many thanks 👍🏼

[@Milan_Openfeint]

They are an electric monopole. Very different from a magnetic monopole.

[@danjager6200]

This is a good explanation of the nuclear forces. Thank you, I will be showing this video to my kid.

[@cheesypotat0es]

Very cool.

[@willinwoods]

Yeah, the past was kinda wild. Radioactive enemas?! "It seemed like a good idea at the time." (The guy that Hannibal Lecter talked into eating his own face.)

[@johnbennett1465]

Since parts of the nucleus can tunnel out randomly, why doesn't this happen with stable atoms?

[@Milan_Openfeint]

It has to have lower total energy after the tunelling is finished. The energy is given by interplay between number of protons that try to split the nucleus, and neutrons that are heavier than protons, and thus themselves subject to decay. Too many of either causes decay, and heavy nuclei just split in halves.

[@spacemonkey1071]

Neutrons into protons Paul. But I'm sure you know that. Lol

[@chromeome5245]

This guy is as close as you can get to being a Ryan Reynolds character without being a Ryan Reynolds character.

[@waferty6027]

Radioactive Decay...Thats metal !!!

[@kingnotail3838]

Aren't X-rays still known as "Roentgen rays" in German?

[@zvpunry1971]

No, they are called "Röntgenstrahlung".

[@Milan_Openfeint]

Not only in German. Also I'd say any name is better than "X"-rays. Unless we rename radio to A-waves, infrared to K-rays, red M-rays, violet N-rays, and gamma as Z-rays. Then it would make perfect sense to call Roentgen rays "X-rays".

[@russellneitzke4972]

@@Milan_Openfeint We could use geographical distances from Becquerel's house to name them all as city names across the globe to parallel the distances across the spectrum.

[@kingnotail3838]

@@zvpunry1971 Doesn't that translate to "Roentgen rays"?

[@kingnotail3838]

@@Milan_Openfeint The "X" was used to highlight their mysterious nature, but yeah it's pretty strange that the name stuck!

[@ssrs0pus]

Dude, we are in space we are all in space we are space people.

[@RichardKCollins]

Paul M Sutter, You said most of the right words, and mostly in the right order and combinations. But you give no tools, no references, no data, no future direction. There are tens of millions of sources that will spout about nuclear and atomic phenomena. They all use more or less the same words you do. Your wiggly nucleus is not bad but you did not model it quantitatively - and that is very possible. Check your terms. Beta decay occurs on the neutron rich side of the stability curve, a neutron decays to a proton and beta particle (an electron). On the proton rich side, an electron is captured by a proton to make a neutron, and sometimes there is enough energy for electron-positron pair production. The electron is captured and the positron emitted, That is "electron capture". Richard Collins, The Internet Foundation

[@fireballxl-5748]

Entropy.

[@peepsibhoy]

Given me a little bit more on radioactivity.Aint gonna scare me though,looks like a great hobby.Have to find out about another thing,don't know its name.Something like strong or not so strong radiation,high alpha source low alpha source.