User:Geo7777/Introduction to Radioactivity
Introduction to Radioactivity[edit]
For a more detailed and advanced article about radioactivity, see radioactive decay.
Radioactivity is the state of being radioactive, most widly used in the field of particle physics. To actually be 'radioactive' is to when a certain object is capable of emitting radiation in any form.[1] The term is usually used for unstable elements and compounds. This process is to make the nucleus of any unstable atom more stable. To be stable is to be in a state when it is not able to radiate perticles, because it is able to stay in its form with its properties without haviing to change at all.[2]
Causes and Effects[edit]
Radioactive decay occurs for a sole reason, it being because the atom is too unstable to last for any of a wide range of times without disintegrating. Unlike its one cause, decaying radioactively opens a wide range of effects, ranging from de-energizing to the emission of a wide range of particles and forces. The effects of decaying depends on the type of the decay. For example, alpha decay's effect is that the element is transmuted (changed from one element to another) as the once-radioactive atom emits an alpha particle, whereas beta minus decay emits a W- boson that decays into an electron and an electron antineutrino.