Radioactivity
Natural radioactive decay of atoms has been happening on the earth
ever since it was formed, over 4000 million years ago. Radioactivity
is a property exhibited by certain types of matter of emitting energy
and subatomic particles spontaneously. It is, in essence, an attribute
of individual atomic nuclei.
An unstable nucleus will decompose spontaneously, or decay, into a
more stable configuration but will do so only in a few specific ways
by emitting certain particles or certain forms of electromagnetic
energy. Radioactive decay is a property of several naturally occurring
elements as well as of artificially produced isotopes of the elements.
The rate at which a radioactive element decays is expressed in terms
of its half-life; i.e., the time required for one-half of any given
quantity of the isotope to decay. Half-lives range from more than
1,000,000,000 years for some nuclei to less than 10-9 second. The
product of a radioactive decay process--called the daughter of the
parent isotope--may itself be unstable, in which case it, too, will
decay. The process continues until a stable nuclide has been formed.
The discovery of radioactivity in uranium by the French physicist
Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852 - 1908) in 1896 forced scientists to
radically change their ideas about atomic structure. Radioactivity
demonstrated that the atom was neither indivisible nor immutable.
Instead of serving merely as an inert matrix for electrons, the atom
could change form and emit an enormous amount of energy. Furthermore,
radioactivity itself became an important tool for revealing the
interior of the atom.
The German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845 - 1923) had
discovered X rays in 1895, and Becquerel thought they might be related
to fluorescence and phosphorescence, processes in which substances
absorb and emit energy as light. In the course of his investigations,
Becquerel stored some photographic plates and uranium salts in a desk
drawer. Expecting to find the plates only lightly fogged, he developed
them and was surprised to find sharp images of the salts. He then
began experiments that showed that uranium salts emit a penetrating
The development of atomic bomb boosted the level of understanding in terms of physics and chemistry of that particular time period. Physicists started to realize that stable nuclei can be converted to unstable nuclei. Through such process, they discovered that heavy nuclei can undergo nuclear fission. While testing, they added a neutron to an isotope of Uranium 235. This resulted Uranium 235 to become unstable and break down into Barium and Krypton, releasing two to three more neutrons. The breakdown of Uranium 235 is called “fission”. When the released neutrons attach to other isotopes of Uranium 235, this can result in a chain reaction of fission. For every generation of fission, the amount of fission is doubled, and this resulted in an extreme outburst of energy. The amount of energy released by this process is related to Einstein’s famous equation “E=mc^2” (Wolf).
Apart of becoming a new patient at a dental office is taking an x-ray and some may have question along with taking an x-ray, like “will I be affected by the x-ray?” or “will I get cancer?”, “how long will it take” “are x-ray’s safe?”, the list goes on and on. So in this paper we will talk about different types of radiation affects such as affects on children and pregnant women as well as some things that may help reduce some of the radiation that may harm the human body.
Pierre and Marie hypothesised that radioactive particles cause atoms to break down, then release radiation that forms energy and subatomic particles.
The definition of radiation is the emission of energy electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles that cause ionization. One of the scientist who discovered radiation was Henri Becquerel, the way the French scientist discovered radioactivity was when we was conducting an experiment with uranium-bearing crystals to sun light, then put it on a photographic plate, he then had set off his experiment for a few days because it was very cloudy and the sun wasn’t shining so Henri put the sample uranium and the plate the same sealed drawer. When he went to get the uranium and photographic plate, Becquerel then discovered that the crystals left a clear image on the photographic plate, Henri wondered how that could happen because there was no energy to produce the image but Henri then discovered that a piece of mineral which contained uranium could produce its image on a photographic plate without light, Henri realized that it was radioactivity. Ernest Rutherford among his many accomplishments one of them were the way he took part in radioactivity by...
Radiation has always been in everyday life even before Roentgen discovered x-ray. The mountains give off natural radiation, other forms of radiation are coal burning power plants, x-rays from a TV, and an airplane ride. The average dose from background radiation is about 360 mrem every year. There are two types of radiation, nonionizing and ionizing radiation. Examples of nonionizing radiation are microwaves and radio waves broadcasting. Ionizing radiation refers to gamma and x-rays. Ionizing radiation means that the rays are able to remove an electron from the atom then ions can be formed. The ions can cause damage when reacting with other atoms. Cells are able to be repaired if low dose are received. However, if cells get a high dose, the cells will be damaged or possibly die. If the cell is damaged permanently then it is referred to as a mutated cell.
The use and management of radioactive materials is not a topic that is generally discussed in abundance to everyday citizens. Many people do not know what radioactive waste is or even the effect that it can have on the human body. Radioactive waste is a type of waste that has some type of radioactive material inside of it. The managing of this radioactive waste is extremely important because it can cause damage to living tissue. Without a place to properly dispose of or contain, the radioactive waste can contaminate our water, food, air, or even our land. If this happened it would be detrimental to all human’s health, causing many different problems throughout the world not only with the health of the population, but problems with the environment as well. Therefore it is vital that we have somewhere to put these radioactive wastes.
Radiation is the emission of electromagnetic energy that is given off in the form of high speed particles that cause ionization. During ionization radiation hits and knocks electrons from an atom creating charged ions. Due to the electron being stripped away from the atom this break the chemical bond. Living tissue within the human body is damaged and attempts to repair it but sometimes the damage is beyond repair.
A radioisotope is an isotope that emits radiation as it has nuclear instability(Prostate Cancer; Fusion imaging helps target greater doses of radiation).Those who are not too familiar with radioisotopes may think their use is for harmful radiation, nuclear weapons, and the possibility of turning into a giant, raging, green monster. However, there are much more positive uses for radioisotopes. There have been many medical advances thanks to the benefit and practice of radioisotopes in nuclear medicine. These advances have been able to diagnose and treat a variety of diseases.
Uranium was discovered by Martin Heinrich Klaproth, a German chemist, in the mineral pitchblende (primarily a mix of uranium oxides) in 1789.Klaproth, as well as the rest of the scientific community, believed that the substance he extracted from pitchblende was pure uranium, it was actually uranium dioxide (UO2). After noticing that 'pure' uranium reacted oddly with uranium tetrachloride (UCl4), Radioactivity was first discovered in 1896 when Antoine Henri Becquerel, a French physicist, detected it from a sample of uranium. Today, uranium is obtained from uranium ores such as pitchblende, uraninite , carnotite and autunite as well as from phosphate rock , lignite (brown coal) and monazite sand . Since there is little demand for uranium metal, uranium is usually sold in the form of sodium diuranate , also known as yellow cake, or triuranium octoxide).
Medical Applications for Nuclear Phenomena (Treatments) Nuclear phenomena has made an outstanding influence on our lives, but the usage of nuclear physics to treat what had been deemed untreatable before is just one of the many examples of modern physics being used to improve the daily lives of people everywhere. As the use of nuclear phenomena in treatments becomes more and more sophisticated through the combined efforts of biomedical engineers and physicists, other usage and new treatments ideas crop up, helping improve medical treatments and eventually, being effective enough to completely cure people from malignant tumors, cancerous tumors, lesions, and other afflictions. Although the usage of nuclear radiation in medicine has many positive
Radiation is a frightening concept. It has lead to many an untimely death in the past 70 years, ranging from victims of atomic bombs in Japan to physiologists experimenting without taking proper safety precautions. The most dangerous form of radiation can be devastating to the body, weakening or eliminating the immune system and tearing the very DNA in one’s cells apart. This form is referred to as ionizing radiation, and even the least harmful potencies - such as x-rays and UV light - can increase the risk of cancer and other health problems. It has enough energy to knock electrons out of atoms in a process called ionization.
What is radioactivity? Radioactive isotopes are heavy nuclei of certain elements having extra neutrons. The extra neutrons in their nuclei cause them to be unstable so the nuclei break up spontaneously, emitting alpha, beta and gamma radiations. For example,