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From: sukenick@ccnysci.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re:  temperature & radioactive decay
Message-ID: <163@ccnysci.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-Oct-85 13:37:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: ccnysci.163
Posted: Tue Oct 15 13:37:02 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Oct-85 04:17:36 EDT
References: <sri-arpa.585>
Reply-To: sukenick@ccnysci.UUCP (George )
Organization: City College of New York
Lines: 21

[[[[((((<<<<*>>>>))))]]]]
> mikes@AMES-NAS.ARPA 

>From:  mikes@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Peter Mikes)
>
>  I find it rather natural that temperature would not affect radioctivity 
>- after all - if you imagine hotter material as bouncing atoms - then
> at any reasonable temperature only outer electron shells get deformed 
> on each collision. There is no effect on the nucleus ( appart fom the 
> broadening of lines due to the Doepler shift) and so no effect on the
> radioctivity. 

Sounds reasonable, but I have a question which relates to this:
   Does the temperature of a plasma of radioactive atoms
have any effect on the radioactivity (half-life)?
(a plasma is at a temperature such that the electron shells are stripped
off - so in this case, 'collisions' disturb the nucleus)
(My guess is no - but I may be wrong)

				-GDS