I understand something can become radioactive when it is polluted with radioactive material, The Claw (the crane which was used to clean up Chernobyl) comes into my mind. There is bad stuff on it -> radioactive.
But what about materials which are exposed to emission only? What changes in the material?
What happens for example when a steal plate is put inside LHC and bombarded with high energy particles? Does the protons collide with the electrons, become neutrons, so the iron in the “steal plate” changes into an isotope which is unstable, so it becomes radioactive?
In: Physics
If I were to explain this to a real five year old, I’d start by saying that everything is made up of extremely tiny things called atoms. Atoms are so small that even microscopes can’t see them, but there are other devices that scientists have which can just barely see them. Radioactivity happens because sometimes atoms have too much stuff in them, so they spit out the extra stuff. The radioactivity is that extra stuff flying around by itself. But sometimes that stuff flies into other atoms because they are lucky enough to be on just the right path to bump into it. Then they might stick to those atoms. At that point, those atoms get too full and might spit it out again.
So at first you have a radioactive rock next to your toys, but eventually the toys start picking up the extra stuff and then they can’t hold onto it and begin spitting it out. That means that the toys are also radioactive, at least until they get rid of all that extra stuff.
After that explanation, I’d let the five year old ask more questions, we might get an inexpensive microscope, we could explore documentaries or science museums, etc. This would be an excellent way to fill in the gaps of their curiosity around the topic.
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