Some elements are radioactive, its nucleus in an unstable state. As it is turning to a more stable state, emits particles or energy. This...
Some elements are radioactive, its nucleus in an unstable state. As it is turning to a more stable state, emits particles or energy. This is what we call radioactivity. This process has a unique quantity, called the half-life, the length of time when half of the nucleus of the given radioactive element turns to another state. It can be a very different time-length, but for the particular element, it is specific.
So if we have lots of same radioactive nucleus, we can notice, half of the nucleus changed at the end of its halftime. After another halftime, the remaining, unchanged nucleus change again, and so on. It looks like an aging process, as less and less original nucleus stays in the original state. If we examine this process then we can see, it is not aging. If it would be aging, then more and more remaining nucleus would turn to the other state. However, what we see is that the likelihood of the change of the remaining nuclei is the same according to time. We can use the radioactivity to measure the length of time if we have many nuclei, but at the individual level of the nucleus, this process means something different. It means, that the individual nucleus does not know how "old" it is. If it would know, the likelihood of the decay would accelerate. The aging is statistical on the collection of nuclei.
The radioactivity on the individual level of the nucleus then must be a cyclical process instead of aging. The radioactive decay must be built on a cycle, which has a probability to decay or not. When this half-life period finishes the given nucleus becomes in the same state, as it is was when the halftime period started or becomes the changed state according to the probability of the given process. And the lifetime period begins again. Of course, we can see continuous radioactivity because the individual halftimes of the nuclei are not synchronized with each other and the decay is probabilistic.
What can we learn from this half-life process, what are the implications?
The radioactivity is a process on the quarks level instead of the complex nucleus level, so these cycles exist at the deepest level of nature. These are not like watches to count the spent time, these are sequenced cycles to measure a period. It is the rhythm of nature, the rhythm of the smallest particles, and the rhythm of the universe. The time, what we think about it, like dimension or direction, does not exist. What exists is a rhythm and the probability of changes, only.
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