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Radiation is often categorized as either ionizing or non-ionizing depending on the energy of the radiated particles. Ionizing radiation carries more than 10 electron volts (eV), which is enough to ionize atoms and molecules and break chemical bonds. This is an important distinction due to the large difference in harmfulness to living organisms.
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is considered radioactive. Three of the most common types of decay are alpha, beta, and gamma decay.
Types of radioactive decay include gamma ray; beta decay (decay energy is divided between the emitted electron and the neutrino which is emitted at the same time) alpha decay; The decay energy is the mass difference Δm between the parent and the daughter atom and particles. It is equal to the energy of radiation E.
The unit of radioactivity from the System International of units (SI system) is the becquerel (Bq) defined as the radioactive decay or disintegration of one radionuclide per second. Radioactivity is a measure of the total, local rate of radionuclides decaying per unit time and is dependent upon the total number of atoms, decay constants , and ...
In other words, the probability of a radioactive atom decaying within its half-life is 50%. [2] For example, the accompanying image is a simulation of many identical atoms undergoing radioactive decay. Note that after one half-life there are not exactly one-half of the atoms remaining, only approximately, because of the random variation in the ...
1 Bq = 1 s −1. A special name was introduced for the reciprocal second (s −1) to represent radioactivity to avoid potentially dangerous mistakes with prefixes.For example, 1 μs −1 would mean 10 6 disintegrations per second: (10 −6 s) −1 = 10 6 s −1, [4] whereas 1 μBq would mean 1 disintegration per 1 million seconds.
Radiophysics (also modern writing radio physics [1]) is a branch of physics focused on the theoretical and experimental study of certain kinds of radiation, its emission, propagation and interaction with matter. The term is used in the following major meanings: study of radio waves (the original area of research) study of radiation used in ...
In the context of radioactivity, activity or total activity (symbol A) is a physical quantity defined as the number of radioactive transformations per second that occur in a particular radionuclide. [3] The unit of activity is the becquerel (symbol Bq), which is defined equivalent to reciprocal seconds (symbol s-1).