When a radioactive isotope releases an alpha particle, the atomic number of the atom is

The radioactive isotope's atomic number decreases by two, and the alpha particle has an atomic number of 2. It wasnt clear which one you were asking for, so there is both.

You would be correct, boiling water does disinfect contamination.    the property of disinfecting means to kill  germs, bacteria and other pathogens or contamination  that might cause an infection or cause a person to become sickly. a couple methods of disinfecting are using soap, other cleaning supplies or by simply "boiling" the contaminate.  the reason why boiling water disinfects certain attributes is because some cells cannot survive the heat and pressure.