Nuclear transmutation

Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one chemical element into another when an atomic nucleus gains or loses protons. It occurs through radioactive decay or nuclear reactions.

Radioactive decay: The spontaneous transformation of an unstable atomic nucleus, accompanied by particle or radiation emission. Some decay modes change proton number, transmuting the parent nucleus into another element.
Nuclear fission: A nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus splits into lighter nuclei, usually releasing neutrons and energy. Fission fragments are new elements, and released neutrons can induce further transmutations.
Ernest Rutherford: A physicist who established the nuclear model of the atom and demonstrated artificial nuclear transmutation. His 1919 nitrogen experiment showed that one element could be transformed into another by particle bombardment.
Chemical reaction: A process that rearranges atoms by changing their electron bonds without changing their nuclei. Unlike nuclear transmutation, ordinary chemistry does not change one element into another.
Alpha decay: A radioactive decay in which a nucleus emits a helium-4 nucleus, reducing its proton number by two. Its loss of two protons directly produces an element two places earlier in the periodic table.
Neutron activation: The production of radioactive nuclides by irradiating materials with neutrons. Neutron capture can create a new isotope that later decays into another element.
Frederick Soddy: A chemist who developed the concept of isotopes and helped explain radioactive transformations. His work clarified how radioactive decay changes an element while sometimes preserving its chemical identity across isotopes.
Isotope: One of two or more forms of an element whose atoms have different numbers of neutrons. Changing neutron count alone changes an isotope, not the element’s identity.
Beta decay: A nuclear decay in which a neutron converts to a proton, or a proton to a neutron, with emission of a beta particle. Changing a neutron into a proton raises the nucleus’s atomic number by one.
Synthetic element: A chemical element produced artificially rather than found in significant natural abundance. Synthetic elements are made through reactions that transmute target nuclei.

Linked from 21 pages