The most common isotope of radon is 222Rn, which has halflife 3.82 days. (a) What fraction of the nuclei that were on the Earth one week ago are now undecayed? (b) Of those that existed one year ago? (c) In view of these results, explain why radon remains a problem, contributing significantly to our background radiation exposure.
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 most common isotope of radon is 222Rn, which has halflife 3.82 days. (a) What fraction of the nuclei that were on the Earth one week ago are now undecayed? (b) Of those that existed one year ago? (c) In view of these results, explain why radon remains a problem, contributing significantly to our background
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