ABSTRACT
I. Natural Radioactivity..................................................................................................... 38
II. The Radioactive Decay C urve...................................................................................... 38
III. Simple Systematics of Radioactive D ecay .................................................................39 A. Alpha D ecay ....................................................................................................... 40 B. Beta Decay............................................................................................................41 C. Gamma Decay..................................................................................................... 43 D. Internal C onversion ...........................................................................................46
IV. Binding E nergy ................................................................................................................ 47
V. A Detailed Analysis of Alpha D e c a y ......................................................................... 48 A. Alpha Decay Energetics.................................................................................... 48 B. Alpha Particle Spectra...................................................................................... 51 C. Energy and H alf-L ife ........................................................................................ 52 D. Theory of Alpha D ecay .................................................................................... 52
VI. A Detailed Analysis of Beta D ecay..............................................................................59 A. Beta Particle S p e c tra .........................................................................................59 B. Beta Decay E nergetics...................................................................................... 60 C. Fermi Theory of Beta D ecay ............................................................................63 D. Ratio of Electron Capture to Positron E m iss io n ....................................... 67
VII. A Detailed Analysis of Gamma D ecay....................................................................... 68 A. Gamma Ray Spectra...........................................................................................68 B. The Theory of Gamma Ray E m iss io n .......................................................... 68 C. Internal Conversion C oefficients...................................................................76
