What term describes the material and/or energy emitted by an unstable isotope?

What term describes the material and/or energy emitted by an unstable isotope?

• A. Radiation
• B. Force
• C. Energy
• D. Matter

Answer: (A)

When a nucleus is unstable, it sheds excess energy and often ejects particles to reach a more stable state. The term for what comes out of that process is radiation. This covers both energy carried away as electromagnetic waves (like gamma rays) and particles with mass (such as alpha and beta particles). So radiation is the umbrella term for both material and energy emitted during radioactive decay. The other ideas don’t fit as well: force is not something that’s emitted by the nucleus, energy alone is the property carried by the emission, and matter alone isn’t always released (gamma radiation carries energy but no mass).

When a nucleus is unstable, it sheds excess energy and often ejects particles to reach a more stable state. The term for what comes out of that process is radiation. This covers both energy carried away as electromagnetic waves (like gamma rays) and particles with mass (such as alpha and beta particles). So radiation is the umbrella term for both material and energy emitted during radioactive decay.

The other ideas don’t fit as well: force is not something that’s emitted by the nucleus, energy alone is the property carried by the emission, and matter alone isn’t always released (gamma radiation carries energy but no mass).