The Half-Life of Karma - What Radioactive Decay Teaches Us About the Dissolution of Suffering

Radioactive decay is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting radiation. The nucleus is unstable because the ratio of protons to neutrons exceeds the range that the...

Radioactive decay is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting radiation.

The nucleus is unstable because the ratio of protons to neutrons exceeds the range that the strong nuclear force can sustain. The instability is not a malfunction.

It is a structural feature - a configuration that contains more energy than the configuration can hold.

And the decay - the emission of alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays - is the nucleus releasing the excess energy. The decay is the nucleus returning to stability.