ENSC 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Iodine-131, Nuclear Fission, Radon
17 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
Ionizing radiation energy strong enough to remove bonds associated with atomic properties toxicity associated with this is a concern, also use energy released for our benefits. Particles: alpha particles consist of 2 protons and neutrons heavy-collide matter and lose their energy quickly little penetrating power, beta particles electrons-smaller-penetrate, neutrons very penetrating come from splitting atoms in nuclear reactions. Waves: gamma rays energy transmitted in a wave great penetrating power, x-rays similar to gamma except artificially produced, **not important to know all of the details. Sources of radiation radon: ubiquitous: radioactive gas found naturally in the environment, produced by the decay of uranium found in soil, rock and water get some from diet. Most elements comprise a mixture of isotopes, a proportion (very small) of which are unstable and therefore radioactive (radioactive decay) isotopes: variants of elements which have different numbers of neutrons (mass) but same number of protons. Potassium ubitquitous in nature, important electrolyte.
