nuclear chemistrya succession of elements initiated in the radioactive decay of a parent, as

thorium or uranium, each of which decays into the next until a stable element, usually lead, is
produced.

Radioactive series, any of four independent sets of unstable heavy atomic nuclei that decay
through a sequence of alpha and beta decays until a stable nucleus is achieved. These four
chains of consecutive parent and daughter nuclei begin and end among elements with atomic
numbers higher than 81, which is the atomic weight of thallium; the members of each set are
genetically related by alpha and beta decay. Three of the sets, the thorium series, uranium
series, and actinium series, called natural or classical series, are headed by naturally occurring
species of unstable nuclei that have half-lives comparable to the age of the elements. By 1935
these three radioactive series had been fully delineated. The fourth set, the neptunium series, is
headed by neptunium-237, which has a half-life of 2,000,000 years. Its members are produced
artificially by nuclear reactions and do not occur naturally; all their half-lives are short compared
with the age of the elements.

The uranium series.

The uranium series.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Because the two pertinent decay processes result either in no change or in a change of four units
in the mass number, the mass numbers of all the members of each series are divisible by four,
with a constant remainder. Within each series, therefore, the mass number of the members may
be expressed as four times an appropriate integer (n) plus the constant for that series; thus, the
thorium series is sometimes called the 4n series; the neptunium series, 4n + 1; the uranium
series, 4n + 2; and the actinium series, 4n + 3.

The neptunium series.

The neptunium series.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The thorium series begins with thorium-232 and ends with the stable nuclide lead-208. The
neptunium series is named for its longest-lived member, neptunium-237; it ends with bismuth-
209. The uranium series begins with uranium-238 and ends with lead-206. The actinium series,
named for its first-discovered member, actinium-227, begins with uranium-235 and ends with
lead-207.
The thorium series.

The thorium series.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Alpha decay, symbolized by a larger arrow in the accompanying diagrams, involves the ejection
from an unstable nucleus of a particle composed of two protons and two neutrons. Thus alpha
emission lowers the atomic number (number of protons) by two units, the neutron number by
two units, and the mass number (total of neutrons and protons) by four units. At the head of the
thorium series, for example, thorium-232 undergoes alpha decay to radium-228.

The actinium series.

The actinium series.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Negative beta decay, symbolized by a smaller arrow, involves the ejection from an unstable
nucleus of an electron and an antineutrino that are produced by the decay of a neutron into a
proton. This process lowers the neutron number by one unit, raises the atomic number by one
unit, and leaves the mass number unchanged. At the end of the neptunium series, for example,
lead-209 undergoes negative beta decay to bismuth-209.

Branching (the decay of a given species in more than one way) occurs in all four of the
radioactive series. For example, in the actinium series, bismuth-211 decays partially by negative
beta emission to polonium-211 and partially by alpha emission to thallium-207.

LEARN MORE in these related articles:

Figure 1: Radioactive decay of beryllium-7 to lithium-7 by electron capture (EC; see text).

radioactivity: Calculation and measurement of energy

…natural radioactivity, the classification of isotopes into the series cited above was of great
significance because they were identified and studied as families. Newly discovered
radioactivities were given symbols relating them to the family and order of occurrence therein.
Thus, thorium-234 was known as UX1, the isomers of protactinium-234 as…

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The thorium series.

thorium series

Thorium series, set of unstable heavy nuclei comprising one of the four radioactive series.

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The uranium series.

uranium series

Uranium series, set of unstable heavy nuclei constituting one of the four radioactive series.

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The actinium series.

actinium series

Actinium series, set of unstable heavy nuclei constituting one of the four radioactive series.

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The neptunium series.

neptunium series

Neptunium series, set of artificially produced and unstable heavy nuclei that are genetically
related through alpha and beta decay. It is one of four radioactive series.

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MORE ABOUT Radioactive series

1 REFERENCE FOUND IN BRITANNICA ARTICLES

Assorted References

classification of radioisotopes

In radioactivity: Calculation and measurement of energy

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