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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1997
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1992-09-02
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Positively charged particle emitted from the
nucleus of a radioactive atom. It is one of
the products of the spontaneous
disintegration of radioactive elements such
as radium and thorium, and is identical with
the nucleus of a helium atom; that is, it
consists of two protons and two neutrons. The
process of emission, alpha decay, transforms
one element into another, decreasing the
atomic number by two, and the atomic weight
by four. See radioactivity.