Radioactive decay occurs when an unstable atom emits particles or radiation to become more stable. There are three types of radioactive decay: alpha particle emission, beta particle emission, and gamma ray emission. Nuclear physics lectures covered radioactive decay and neutron interactions with nuclei. Neutrons can elastically scatter off nuclei through potential scattering. Neutrons can also be absorbed by nuclei to form an excited compound nucleus that then decays, emitting an energetic particle. The concept of neutron cross section is used to quantify the likelihood of interaction between an incident neutron and a target nucleus.