radioactive series

radioactive series, any of four independent sets of unstable heavy atomic nuclei that decay through a sequence of alpha and beta decays until a stable nucleus is achieved. These four chains of consecutive parent and daughter nuclei begin and end among elements with atomic numbers higher than 81, which is the atomic number of thallium; the members of each set are genetically related by alpha and beta decay. Three of the sets, the thorium series, uranium series, and actinium series, called natural or classical series, are headed by naturally occurring species of unstable nuclei that have half-lives comparable to the age of the elements. By 1935 these three radioactive series had been fully delineated. The fourth set, the neptunium series, is headed by neptunium-237, which has a half-life of 2,144,000 years. Its members are produced artificially by nuclear reactions and do not occur naturally; all their half-lives are short compared with the age of the elements.

Because the two pertinent decay processes result either in no change or in a change of four units in the mass number, the mass numbers of all the members of each series are divisible by four, with a constant remainder. Within each series, therefore, the mass number of the members may be expressed as four times an appropriate integer (n) plus the constant for that series; thus, the thorium series is sometimes called the 4n series; the neptunium series, 4n + 1; the uranium series, 4n + 2; and the actinium series, 4n + 3.

The thorium series begins with thorium-232 and ends with the stable nuclide lead-208. The neptunium series is named for its longest-lived member, neptunium-237; it ends with bismuth-209. The uranium series begins with uranium-238 and ends with lead-206. The actinium series, named for its first-discovered member, actinium-227, begins with uranium-235 and ends with lead-207.

Alpha decay, symbolized by a larger arrow in the accompanying diagrams, involves the ejection from an unstable nucleus of a particle composed of two protons and two neutrons. Thus alpha emission lowers the atomic number (number of protons) by two units, the neutron number by two units, and the mass number (total of neutrons and protons) by four units. At the head of the thorium series, for example, thorium-232 undergoes alpha decay to radium-228.

Negative beta decay, symbolized by a smaller arrow, involves the ejection from an unstable nucleus of an electron and an antineutrino that are produced by the decay of a neutron into a proton. This process lowers the neutron number by one unit, raises the atomic number by one unit, and leaves the mass number unchanged. At the end of the neptunium series, for example, lead-209 undergoes negative beta decay to bismuth-209.

Branching (the decay of a given species in more than one way) occurs in all four of the radioactive series. For example, in the actinium series, bismuth-211 decays partially by negative beta emission to polonium-211 and partially by alpha emission to thallium-207.