How do radioactive things make other things radioactive?
In: Physics
Well, they typically don’t.
Materials tend to produce dust. I’m sure you’ve noticed that dust just *forms*. Especially materials that corrode, like iron, produce rust. Plutonium really likes to corrode. These dust particles, when a radioactive material, spread just like any other dust. They can stick to clothes, for instance. This is why a respirator is important when working with radioactives, as radioactive dust is a recipe for lung disaster.
The other one is nuclear transmutation. Neutron radiation, which is not produced by most radioactive things, can add neutrons to the nuclei of atoms. The additional neutron can make the nucleus unstable, and an unstable nucleus will eventually decay and release radiation (which is what makes all radioactive materials that way).
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