Radioactive materials and radiation existed long before scientists. Radiation occurs naturals in the air we breath, in the food we consume, in the earths crust and in the water we drink. We in 3.5 million radioactive molecules every time we take a breath. In a about a year we consume 240 mrem of raditaion naturally from theses causes.
Yes natural and cannot be controlled by any physical means
no
Not much. There are various forms of radioactivity. A material can emit alpha particles, beta particles (high energy electrons), neutrons, gamma rays (high energy photos), or you can ingest it. If you eat, breathe or inject a radioactive material, it will be inside you and you will become "radioactive" in that you will emit particles or radiation. This is how PET works - the doctor injects a short-lived isotope and tracks the positrons emitted by them with a detector, so can track, say, the uptake of glucose in your brain. If you sit on a lump of radioactive material, the radiation will damage your skin and body to an extent depending on the intensity and type of radiation. If an emitted particle changes an atom in your body to an unstable isotope, this will later decay by emitting a particle itself. In this sense you will have been made "radioactive". This is I believe very unlikely - the side effects of radiation damage would kill you long before you had become significantly radioactive just from contact. A particle is more likely to break chemical bonds and create free radicals than to create a new isotope.
The name for the emissions of rays and particles by a radioactive material are called radioactive decay. There are many different types of radioactive decay that emit different rays and particles.
Americium-241 this is an emitter of alpha radiation, which is used in smoke detectors as it is very ionising and will not be able to travel through smoke. Therefore, in a fire the detector will not receive any alpha radiation and hence the alarm will go off.
Radioactive dating refers to the process of measuring the age of an object using the amount of a given radioactive material it contains. Relative dating, meanwhile, measures the order of past events, without determining their absolute age.
A fundamental property of radioactive material is that the atomic nucleus has an unstable configuration. The nucleus of a single atom of such material may break down at any instant, or may never break down at all, but with a large number of atoms in a collection, there is a statistical probability that half of them will break down in a given amount of time, which is known as the "half life" for that radioactive material. Exactly why this should be so is a mystery which cannot be adequately explained, but is observed and accepted as such. A deeper understanding of this phenomenon would probably give us a better insight into the true nature of the universe as a whole.
Yes. Radiation is emanated from radioactive material, so the amount of radiation that someone "gives off" is a function of how much radioactive material they have inside them.
The "radioactive" safety symbol warns you that radioactive material or a radiation producing machine is near the symbol and you should take precautions to ensure that you are not unnecessarily exposed to ionizing radiation.
Gamma radiations is a natural process by radioactive material.
Due to unstable atomic structures (or a weak nuclear force), radioactive materials release alpha particles as radiation.
Radioactive materials emit dangerous radiation; most of this will be blocked by a box of lead.
1,000 mR/hr
radiation dipersal device
The radioactive warning sign means that a source of radiation, or of radioactive material, is on the other side and should not be approached without using appropriate precautions.
Some varieties may contain radioactive material, whether because the atoms are radioactive themselves or have been irradiated by other minerals.
The radioactive warning sign means that a source of radiation, or of radioactive material, is on the other side and should not be approached without using appropriate precautions.
Radioactive material packages to be shipped in commerce require one of several Class 7 labels. Which one depends on the nature of the material being shipped and the intensity of the radiation.
Radio active material that occurs naturally where human activities exposure to ionizing radiation are naturally-occurring radioactive materials, or NORM. They include uranium and thorium. Radioactive materials are mainly used in engineering and science departments. This type of material emits gamma rays or particles that as radioactive energy.