Radioactive Decay - Series Decay

Series Decay

1. Sometimes after a radioactive decay, the daughter nuclide formed is still unstable.
2. It will further decay into another nuclide which may also unstable.
3. This process continues until a stable nuclide is reached. This is called a series decay.
4. Each decay will emit either an alpha particle or a beta particle and may be gamma ray.
5. Figure below shows a series decay started from plutonium-241 to formed Thallium-205 eventually.

(This image is created by Johantheghost under creative common licence)