The thorium radioactive series starts with and ends with the stable nuclide

PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · Nuclei · Nuclei

Problem

The thorium radioactive series starts with

^{232}_{90}\text{Th}

and ends with the stable nuclide

^{208}_{82}\text{Pb}

, proceeding only through

\alpha

-decays and

\beta^{-}

-decays. (i) Derive simultaneous equations for

n_{\alpha}

and

n_{\beta}

(ii) Solve for

n_{\alpha}

and

n_{\beta}

(iii) Verify conservation with the obtained values