IsoplotR (version 0.5)

lambda: Decay constants

Description

Gets or sets the decay constants of radioactive isotopes

Usage

lambda(nuclide, x = NULL, e = NULL)

Arguments

nuclide

the nuclide name

x

new value for the decay constant

e

new value for the decay constant uncertainty

Value

if x==e==NULL, returns a two-item vector containing the decay constant [in Ma-1] and its standard error, respectively.

References

U: Jaffey, A. H., et al. "Precision measurement of half-lives and specific activities of U 235 and U 238." Physical Review C 4.5 (1971): 1889.

Th: Le Roux, L. J., and L. E. Glendenin. "Half-life of 232Th." Proceedings of the National Meeting on Nuclear Energy, Pretoria, South Africa. 1963.

Ar: Renne, Paul R., et al. "Joint determination of 40K decay constants and 40Ar*/40K for the Fish Canyon sanidine standard, and improved accuracy for 40Ar/39Ar geochronology." Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 74.18 (2010): 5349-5367.

Examples

print(lambda('U238'))
# use the decay constant of Kovarik and Adams (1932)
lambda('U238',0.0001537,0.0000068)
print(lambda('U238'))