Abstract
E. Bleuler and M. Gabriel1 have recently shown that potassium-40 decays radioactively in two different ways. Apparently a potassium-40 nucleus can decay either by emitting a beta-ray, or by capturing one of its own K-electrons and emitting a gamma-ray. In the first case the resulting product is calcium-40, and the latter argon-40. 1·9 capture processes occur for every beta-ray emission.
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References
Bleuler, E., and Gabriel, M., Helv. Phys. Acta, 20, 67 (1947).
Gleditsch, E., and Graf, T., Phys. Rev., 72, 641 (1947).
Clarke, F. W., "Data of Geochemistry", 22 and 36 (5th ed., 1922).
Nier, Phys. Rev., 50, 1041 (1936).
Clarke, F. W., "Data of Geochemistry", 31.
Suess, H. E., Phys. Rev., 73, 1029 (1948).
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POOLE, J. Relative Abundances of Potassium and Argon in the Earth‘s Surface Materials. Nature 162, 775–776 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162775a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162775a0
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