The Radioactivity of Uranium

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https://omeka-s.library.illinois.edu/s/rbml/item/4013
Title
The Radioactivity of Uranium
Description
Following the foundational work of Marie and Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel, Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy derived the empirical and mathematical principles of radioactivity in their seminal paper “The Radioactivity of Uranium” (Philosophical Magazine, 1903). The figure displayed here demonstrates how the “parent” element uranium is transformed into the unknown “daughter” element “uranium-x” (since identified as 234Th). Both curves are exponential and perfectly mirror one another, which reveals that the process of radioactive transformation occurs at a constant rate. From these measurements, Rutherford and Soddy described the fundamental principles of the radioactive decay constant, half-life, and parent-daughter ratios. Because the decay rate for a given pair of parent and daughter elements was a universal constant, the measurement of the ratio between parent and daughter in any mineral would reveal the age of that mineral.
Call Number (click link to view in library catalog)
505 LE
Authors
Rutherford, Ernest, and Frederick Soddy
Date
1903
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Location
London
Language
English
Rights
This item was originally published in Philosophical Magazine. Intellectual property rights, including copyright, may reside with the materials' creator(s) or their heirs.
Type
Text
Medium
Article
Bibliographic Citation
Rutherford, Ernest, and Frederick Soddy. “The Radioactivity of Uranium”. Philosophical Magazine 6 (1903): 441-445.