The Chernobyl reactor accident in what is now Ukraine was the worst nuclear disaster of all time. Fission products from the reactor core spread over a wide area. The primary radiation exposure to people in western Europe was due to the short-lived (half-life 8.0 days) isotope 131I, which fell across the landscape and was ingested by grazing cows that concentrated the isotope in their milk.Farmers couldn’t sell the contaminated milk, so many opted to use the milk to make cheese, aging it until the radioactivity decayed to acceptable levels. How much time must elapse for the activity of a block of cheese containing 131I to drop to 1.0% of its initial value?
Radioactive decay
The emission of energy to produce ionizing radiation is known as radioactive decay. Alpha, beta particles, and gamma rays are examples of ionizing radiation that could be released. Radioactive decay happens in radionuclides, which are imbalanced atoms. This periodic table's elements come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Several of these kinds are stable like nitrogen-14, hydrogen-2, and potassium-40, whereas others are not like uranium-238. In nature, one of the most stable phases of an element is usually the most prevalent. Every element, meanwhile, has an unstable state. Unstable variants are radioactive and release ionizing radiation. Certain elements, including uranium, have no stable forms and are constantly radioactive. Radionuclides are elements that release ionizing radiation.
Artificial Radioactivity
The radioactivity can be simply referred to as particle emission from nuclei due to the nuclear instability. There are different types of radiation such as alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Along with these there are different types of decay as well.
The Chernobyl reactor accident in what is now Ukraine was the worst nuclear disaster of all time. Fission products from the reactor core spread over a wide area. The primary
Farmers couldn’t sell the contaminated milk, so many opted to use the milk to make cheese, aging it until the radioactivity decayed to acceptable levels. How much time must elapse for the activity of a block of cheese containing 131I to drop to 1.0% of its initial value?
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