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Soddy and Fajans stated the laws of
transmutation which govern the process by which one element transmutes
into another (this what the alchemists dreamt of achieving). |
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Elements with a high
atomic number, (Z>82) spontaneously expel a particle (formed by two
protons and two neutrons).
Soddy's 1st law: when a radioactive atom emits an alpha particle, its mass number decreases by four and its atomic number by two. |
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How is this explained?
During the emission of the particle
both the quantity of movement and the energy are conserved. |
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