Curie, Radioactive decay
This is roughly the activity of 1 gram of the radium isotope 226Ra, a substance studied by the pioneers of radiology, Marie and Pierre Curie, for whom the unit was named. In addition to the curie, activity can be measured using an SI derived unit, the becquerel (Bq), which equates to one decay per second. Read more ![]()
Radioactive decay is a stochastic (i.e., random) process at the level of single atoms, in that, according to quantum theory, it is impossible to predict when a given atom will decay. However, given a large number of identical atoms (nuclides), the decay rate for the collection is predictable, via the Law of Large Numbers. Read more
