Question

Consider your answers to question 4. What type of radiation occurs with the decomposition of Bismuth-210?

O Alpha decay
O Beta decay
O Positron emission
O Gamma emission

Answer 1

Beta Decay

Bismuth-210 decays to polonium-210 through beta decay. Milligram amounts of polonium-210 have been produced by this method. The longer-lived isotopes polonium-209 (half-life 103 years) and polonium-208 (half-life 2.9 years) are also produced in reactors or particle accelerators, but this is very expensive.