How does an object become radioactive just by being near or touching something else that is radioactive?
In: Physics
Some basic science to get out of the way: everything is made of 1 or more elements (like iron, gold, oxygen, etc). Elements are made of smaller particles called neutrons, protons and electrons. Each elements has a unique number of each of these subatomic particles.
Generally, radioactive stuff is radioactive because of an imbalance with the number of neutrons or because there are so many subatomic particles (generally only protons and neutrons) that each atom cannot hold itself together too well. Think of it like a stack of blocks. There are only so many blocks you can staack before the tower collapses.
Now, when this collapse inevitebly occurs, the atom in question can either eject 2 of each subatomic particle (alpha decay), just a neutron (beta decay). Generally, the atom also releases a gamma ray with these types of decay.
Now if a normal, non-radioactive atom is close to a redioactive atoms that has just decayed by either of the above methods, it can absorb the decay product. In some cases, this is sufficient to cause an imbalance in the numbers of protons and neutrons. As shown before, this can cause instabilty in the new atom, leading to radioactivity.
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