What is radiation and its causes?

Radiation is energy that moves in the form of waves or particles. This energy is emitted both inside the body and externally, through both natural and man-made processes. All life forms emit a certain amount of radiation, with all humans, plants and animals accumulating radioisotopes as they ingest food, air and water.

What causes a radioactive atom?

Why Are Some Atoms Radioactive? The delicate balance of forces among particles keeps the nucleus stable. Any change in the number, the arrangement, or the energy of the nucleons can upset this balance and cause the nucleus to become unstable and create a radioactive atom.

What is the cause of natural radioactivity?

The natural radioactivity in air is due mainly to radioactive emanations (radon, thoron, actinon) and to those of their deposits that produce radioactive aerosols.

What causes radioactivity for kids?

Radioactivity is caused when atoms in objects lose particles and emit high-energy radiation. Scientists use radioactive atoms or isotopes in objects for many technologies and medicines.

What causes radiation in space?

Earth’s biggest source of radiation is the Sun. Occasionally, giant explosions, called solar flares, occur on the surface of the Sun and release massive amounts of energy out into space in the form of x-rays, gamma rays, and streams of protons and electrons. This is called a solar particle event (SPE).

Which type of radiation is caused by radioactivity?

Radioactive elements emit ionizing radiation as their atoms undergo radioactive decay. Radioactive decay is the emission of energy in the form of ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation can affect the atoms in living things, so it poses a health risk by damaging tissue and DNA in genes..

What are 3 sources of radiation?

Natural background radiation comes from the following three sources:

• Cosmic Radiation.
• Terrestrial Radiation.
• Internal Radiation.

How do you induce radioactivity?

Radioactivity that is created when stable substances are bombarded by ionizing radiation. For example, the stable isotope cobalt-59 becomes the radioactive isotope cobalt-60 under neutron bombardment.

What is radioactive in simple words?

As its name implies, radioactivity is the act of emitting radiation spontaneously. This is done by an atomic nucleus that, for some reason, is unstable; it “wants” to give up some energy in order to shift to a more stable configuration.

What are the four uses of radiation?

Today, to benefit humankind, radiation is used in medicine, academics, and industry, as well as for generating electricity. In addition, radiation has useful applications in such areas as agriculture, archaeology (carbon dating), space exploration, law enforcement, geology (including mining), and many others.

What are the dangers of radioactivity?

High doses can cause cataracts. Radioactive iodine can build up and cause cancer, particularly during growth. Breathing in radioisotopes can damage DNA. Radioactive isotopes can sit in the stomach and irradiate for a long time. High doses can cause sterility or mutations. Radiation can burn skin or cause cancer.

What are the sources of radioactivity?

The two main sources of radioactivity are : Natural radioactivity resulting from the disintegration of natural. radionuclides , which mostly have atomic numbers from Z=81 to Z= 92. (such as uranium and thorium ) .These atoms are grouped into three radioactive series : the uranium series , thorium series and actinium series.

What are the effects of radioactivity?

(1) Hair. The losing of hair quickly and in clumps occurs with radiation exposure at 200 rems or higher.

What causes something to be radioactive?

Radioactivity is caused when an atom, for whatever reason, wants to give away some of its energy. It does this because it wants to shift from an unstable configuration to a more stable configuration. The energy that is released when the atom makes this shift is known as radioactivity.