Nuclear Physics: Radioactive decay via heavy ion emission

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Abstract
A bright student in an introductory physics class sometimes asks why only alpha particles, and not other light nuclei, are emitted in the process of radioactive decay of heavy nuclei via quantum-mechanical barrier penetration. The answer usually given is that only the α satisfies the conditions of being both light and sufficiently tightly bound for the Q-value of the process (the energy equivalent difference between the mass of the parent and the masses of the daughter and light nucleus) to be high enough for tunnelling to proceed at an observable rate.

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