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Radon-222 (222 Rn, Rn-222, historically radium emanation or radon) is the most stable isotope of radon, with a half-life of approximately 3.8 days. It is transient in the decay chain of primordial uranium-238 and is the immediate decay product of radium-226.
Radon mostly appears with the radium/uranium series (decay chain) (222 Rn), and marginally with the thorium series (220 Rn). The element emanates naturally from the ground, and some building materials, all over the world, wherever traces of uranium or thorium are found, and particularly in regions with soils containing granite or shale , which ...
There are 39 known isotopes of radon (86 Rn), from 193 Rn to 231 Rn; ... 222 Rn (and also 218 Rn in a rare branch) is an intermediate step in the decay chain of 238 U ...
One unique trait of this decay chain is that the noble gas radon is only produced in a rare branch (not shown in the illustration) but not the main decay sequence; thus, radon from this decay chain does not migrate through rock nearly as much as from the other three.
The gamma rays are produced by radon and the first short-lived elements of its decay chain (218 Po, 214 Pb, 214 Bi, 214 Po). [citation needed] Radon and its first decay products being very short-lived, the seed is left in place. After 11 half-lives (42 days), radon radioactivity is at 1/2 000 of its original level.
The highest levels of radon in rainwater occur during thunderstorms, and it is hypothesized that radon is concentrated in thunderstorms because it forms some positive ions during thunderstorms. [12] Estimates of the age of raindrops have been obtained from measuring the isotopic abundance of radon's short-lived decay progeny in rainwater. [13]
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — An "iron curtain" has descended here. Residents near a Cold War-era nuclear bomb shelter are wondering what the property's new owners are doing on the other side of the chain ...
Radon is a noble gas, i.e. a zero-valence element, and is chemically not very reactive. The 3.8-day half-life of radon-222 makes it useful in physical sciences as a natural tracer. Because radon is a gas under normal circumstances, and its decay-chain parents are not, it can readily be extracted from them for research. [1]