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
“I understand something can become radioactive when it is polluted with radioactive material” incorrect. You dont turn radioactive from being covered in radioactive dust. You are just contaminated with microparticulates that radiate ionising electromagnetic radiation.
There is a process that CAN cause it, under specyfic conditions, called neutron activation – where a neutron with proper energy can be captured by atomic nucleus, basically transmuting that atom into either its radioactive isotope, or another atom that is radioactive. This obviously requires a certain type of ionising radiation – neutrons emmision, not i.e. gamma radiation or xrays. And it requires proper energies of said neutrons so that they are captured by target nucleus, instead of splitting it for example.
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