Can elements change over time?

HairyBear

Uranium and carbon-14 break down over time naturally, but I am unaware of any other elements that change spontaneously. Aug 06 06, 9:24 PM

ceetee

All radio-active elements, by definition, break down over time. There are at least two ways of doing this. If as part of their decay pattern, they lose an alpha-particle (ie two protons and two neutrons) their atomic number reduces by two, which means that it is now a new element. This is how, eventually, uranium becomes lead (but there are several steps involved) Alternatively, beta decay is where a neutron becomes a proton and an electron is emitted as the radiated particle. This has the effect of increasing the atomic number by one (eg in the example cited in the previous answer, carbon-14 becomes Nitrogen 14) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_decay Aug 06 06, 10:33 PM

yumchicken

http://www.teopublishing.com/4elements/4excerpt.html Aug 08 06, 8:10 AM

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