Natural radioactivity is present in the air, water and soil around us. Some of the radioactive isotopes were created in with the universe. Others are generated by radioactive decay of other elements. Cosmic ray from space create still others by interacting with terrestrial elements. The half-lives of these naturally occurring radionuclides vary from days to billions of years.
There are a several different units of measurement for radiation emitted and absorbed from radioactive materials. Exposure is measured in terms of a particular amount of radiation per a particular duration of time.
Radiation comes from many sources, natural and artificial. There are over 60 naturally occurring radioactive elements. In addition, there are many sources of radiation created by the human race for a variety of purposes.
Radioactive decay occurs when an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom looses energy by emitting ionizing particles. There are many different types of radioactive decay. The result of decay is either that the nucleus enters a different state or that the number of nucleons (protons and/or neutrons) in the nucleus changes. The first types of decay processes that were discovered were alpha decay, beta decay and gamma decay.
People have been trying to figure out what the basic stuff of the material world is for thousands of years. An ancient Greek named Democritus said around 460 BC that there were tiny indivisible things he called atoms that made up all material objects. After that there were a lot of other ideas proposed that were not as advanced.
Welcome to Nucleotidings. This is a blog about radiation. Radiation is a general term with different meanings. This is a blog about dangerous radiation in our environment. There are different types of dangerous radiation and there are multiple sources. I will be most concerned with radioactive emissions from man-made sources.
