Radioactivity

Radioactivity

Radioactivity is a physical process that includes emitting of radiations from unstable atoms. These atoms achieve stability through the process of radioactive decay. A radioactive atom emits energy and particles during its decomposition which are referred to as radiations. Radioactive decay can be natural or induced. Natural radioactive decay includes natural decomposition of radioactive atoms. It is categorised into three categories namely alpha radiation, beta radiation and gamma radiation.

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Radioactive Waste

Radioactive waste includes waste materials produced during the process of radioactive decay. It is categorised into various groups on the basis of its level of harmfulness to people. Some of them are as following.
Exempt waste and very low level radioactive waste includes the waste that are least or even not harmful to people and surroundings. Low level radioactive waste is generated in hospitals and nuclear fuel cycle that contain very small amount of short living radioactive decay.
Intermediate level radioactive waste contain relatively higher amount of nuclear decay and should be managed to avoid its harmful effects. High level radioactive waste is produced in nuclear reactors and as the name suggests it has very high level of nuclear decay and is very harmful to people and environment if not managed properly.

What is Radioactivity

Radio-activity is feature of some unstable atomic nucleus that emits radiations spontaneously. These unstable nuclei do so in order to achieve a stable configuration. Hence they emit some energy in form of radiations. Ability of these nuclei to emit radiations spontaneously is referred to as nuclear decay. Say for example, an atomic nucleus has too many neutrons. These excess neutrons make this nucleus unstable.

Hence this nucleus emits a negatively charged beta particle and thereby converting one neutron into proton. Likewise an atom with excess protons emit positron and thereby converts one proton into neutron. Hence the atom gets rid of excess subatomic particles by emitting radiations. The whole process is referred to as nuclear decay.Is this topic Equation for Kinetic Energy hard for you? Watch out for my coming posts.

Radioactivity Definition

Nuclear decay is a physical process defined as ability of atoms to emit radiations spontaneously.

Who Discovered Radioactivity

H. Becquerel discovered radioactive decay during his studies on properties of X-rays. He demonstrated that atoms of Uranium have ability to emit radiations spontaneously without any external energy source.
Later M. Curie and her husband Pierre coined the term “radioactivity”. They showed that ore of Uranium had more radioactive decay than the pure Uranium. This was due to the presence of other radioactive elements in the ore namely polonium and radium.