A double alpha disintegration?

[Frank Einstein]

Hi everybody; I was watching footage from a cloud chamber and I stumbled upon a double alpha disintegration; both particles came from the same spot and their trajectory was shaped as a V; the only radioactive element which was in the air was the natural radon; after consulting the disintegration chain, I think that the only phenomenon which can explain that is a disintegration tfrom radon to polonium and an immediate disintegration of that polonium to lead.

Is there other way to explain this phenomenon?

Thanks for reading.

 

[mfb]

²¹⁴Po has a half-life of only 160 microseconds and various other isotopes have similarly short half-lifes, so two decays within a millisecond are not uncommon.

Is there other way to explain this phenomenon?

Random chance - two independent decays at roughly the same place and time.

 

[Frank Einstein]

Well I gess that's true, but I was wondering if it is possible for a single Rn atom to expell two alpha particles and not to have two steps of the disintegration chain separated little time.

 

[mfb]

The intermediate nucleus can be so short-living that the question "did it really exist?" becomes tricky. I don't think that happens for alpha decays, however.

There is double proton emission and of course double beta decay, the latter clearly without a proper intermediate nucleus.

 

[Frank Einstein]

I see.
Thank you very much for anwsering me.