Chapter 13 - The World of Atoms
The Exponential Law

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Historical Foundations of Exponential Decay

L.J. Curtis, "Concept of the Exponential Decay Law Prior to 1900," Am.J.Phys. 46, 896 (1978).
Named among most memorable papers from Am.J.Phys., 1933-1990.

Ancient formulations

Perceptive linearization of stimuli

Biological growth

The 17th century: Formulations

The 18th century: Applications

The 19th century: Departures from a pure exponential

The 20th century: Radioactive decay

Exponential growth

Do particles decay or only pristinely disintegrate?

Summary

Introduction

Status of testing

Simulation study

AMS

Cascading

Introduction

Diagrammatic mnemonic