Single-stage Radioisotope Decay

Before we work on the uranium decay series, we start with single-stage radioisotope decay. 

For the decay of A number of radioactive atoms, the rate of decay, dN /dt, is proportional to the number of atoms N,  

The number of radiogenic daughter atoms formed, G, equals the number of parent atoms consumed  

A useful way of referring to the rate of decay of a radionuclide is the half-life, 1 2. which is the time required for half of the parent atoms to decay. And according to Eq. (5.2), when N = NQ/2, we obtain 

If the number of daughter atoms at time t = 0 is Gq, then the total number of atoms at time t is 

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