alpha decay

1. 1.

   radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus that is accompanied by the emission of an alpha particle

   Broaderdecay

Questions about alpha decay

What does alpha decay mean?

alpha decay means "radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus that is accompanied by the emission of an alpha particle".

Is alpha decay a common word?

alpha decay is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.