[6]Actually the weights rarely add up to the original 238 because, as a rule, one or more neutrons are emitted which carry off some of the original mass.
[7]Only a very few unlucky ones are overtaken by beta decay first.
[8]She and her husband were the discoverers of two elements, rhenium and masurium. One of these exists.
[9]A great portion of the energy might be lost if the neutron is quite fast. In this case the neutron can cause internal excitation of the nucleus.
[10]There seems to be a good possibility that he died from a hepatitis entirely unrelated to the initial radiation exposure.
[11]Half-lives of radioactive nuclei are uninfluenced by the extreme temperatures or pressures of the explosion, or by the state of motion of the particles or where they happen to be.
[12]A small amount may drift down to the ground in the winds. This may get deposited on leaves and grass.
[13]The last line of the table is based on our own estimates.
[14]Recent evidence suggests this number is sometimes twenty-three.
[15]Dubbed by its friends “Committee for Reactor Prevention.”