Decay energy

Decay energy is the energy released when a radioactive parent nucleus transforms into decay products. It is determined by the parent’s mass minus the total mass of the products, multiplied by the speed of light squared.

Q-value: The energy change between the initial and final states of a nuclear reaction or decay. Decay energy is the Q-value of a radioactive transformation.
Atomic mass unit: A unit of mass defined as one-twelfth the mass of a carbon-12 atom. Nuclear mass differences are commonly expressed in atomic mass units before conversion to energy.
Alpha decay: A radioactive transformation in which a nucleus emits a helium-4 nucleus. Its discrete alpha-particle energies reveal the decay energy and daughter recoil.
Separation energy: The energy required to remove a particle from a nucleus or other bound system. It concerns the energy needed to undo a bound state, not the energy of a specified decay.
Mass–energy equivalence: The principle that mass and energy are related by the equation E = mc². It converts the parent–product mass difference into released energy.
Nuclear binding energy: The energy required to separate a nucleus into its constituent protons and neutrons. Differences in nuclear binding energy account for mass changes across decay.
Electron capture: A decay in which a nucleus captures an atomic electron and converts a proton into a neutron. Its energy release sets the energy available to neutrinos and atomic radiation.
Excitation energy: The energy of a system above its lowest-energy state. A daughter nucleus may retain excitation energy instead of releasing it immediately.
Two-body decay: A decay in which a parent particle produces two daughter particles. Its kinematics show how decay energy is shared between recoiling products.
Mass excess: The difference between an atomic or nuclear mass and its mass number times the atomic mass unit. Mass-excess tables make decay-energy calculations direct.

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