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secular equilibrium

noun

Definitions

  1. The situation of the quantity of a radioisotope remaining constant because it is produced…

    The situation of the quantity of a radioisotope remaining constant because it is produced (by decay of a parent isotope) at the same rate that it decays.

    • In decay schemes of this type, the following three conditions may predominate: (1) secular equilibrium, (2) transient equilibrium, and (3) the state of no equilibrium.
    • The ^{₆₈}Ge/^{₆₈}Ga and the ^{₈₂}Sr/^{₈₂}Rb generators represent secular equilibria.
    • At the same time, because of differences in the chemistry of the daughter and parent elements involved in such secular equilibria, this parent:daughter ratio may not be equal to 1.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for secular equilibrium. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA