Transmutation

Name:
Transmutation
Detailed information:
The natural or artificial transformation of atoms of one element into atoms of a different element as the result of a nuclear reaction. The reaction may be one in which two nuclei interact, as in the formation of oxygen from nitrogen and helium nuclei (β-particles), or one in which a nucleus reacts with an elementary particle such as a neutron or proton. Thus a sodium atom and a proton form a magnesium atom. Radioactive decay, e.g., of uranium, can be regarded as a type of transmutation. The first transmutation was performed by the English physicist Rutherford in 1919.