![]() Soon studies of the nature of radioactivity and radioactive elements became a dynamic field for research.ĭuring the Manhattan Project, the transformative power of radioactive decay played a significant role in the production of weapons. Understanding, physicists termed the radiation "uranium rays." Marie and Pierre Curie, however, burst the field open by discovering different elements that exhibit the same "radioactive" (coined by Marie Curie in 1898) properties The uranium itself seemed to emit penetrating rays distinct from any known source. Uranium, even in the absence of any form of light, the plate would darken as if it had been exposed to light. ![]() Becquerel found that if he exposed a photographic plate to a sample of ScientistsĮxpress the rate at which a sample of radioactive material decays through the term "half-life." The radioactive half-life of an isotope tells scientists the time within which one half of the original atoms present will have decayed.įrench physicist Henri Becquerel's discovery of radioactivity in 1896 followed on the heels of Wilhelm Rontgen's exciting discovery of x-rays a year earlier. This means that in time more of the constituent atoms in a sample will have decayed into stable atoms, and the sample will be less radioactive. Undergo radioactive decay is not constant, but rather decreases with time. Importantly, the rate at which atoms are expected to The products, however, will eventually decay through a chain of daughter products into a stable atom. Such new elements produced through radioactiveĭecay are termed "daughter" products, and are themselves often radioactive. In beta decay a neutron changes into a proton, and the original element becomes the next element on the periodic table. Because the number of protons in the nucleus has changed, the atom becomes an atom of a different element. When an atom undergoes a process calledĪlpha decay, for example, it loses two protons and two neutrons. When the nucleus of the original atom undergoes radioactive decay, it changes into the nucleus of a different element. The two most common processes by which radioactive atoms decay are alpha decay and beta decay-other less frequent processes include electron capture, isomeric transition, and spontaneous fission. Radiation safety procedures, prolonged work with radioactive substances can lead to a variety of health problems. Radioactivity is measured by the number of disintegrations taking place within a given amount of time and the principal unit is the curie, defined as 3.7x1010 disintegrations per second. ![]() The process of disintegration is referred to as radioactiveĭecay. This means that they are susceptible to spontaneously disintegration into different atoms, a process accompanied by the emission of high energy and potentially damaging alpha particles,īeta particles, or gamma radiation. Manhattan Project: Science > RadioactivityĬertain elements or isotopes naturally have the property of being radioactive, or can be induced to become radioactive.
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