Just finished watching Chernobyl, and I’m curious what the effect/process is by which radioactivity is spread from one human/surface to another? What particle is responsible?
Thanks
In: Physics
Often people misuse the words “radiation” and “radioactive contamination”.
*Radiation* refers to energetic subatomic particles or light that is emitted from an atom. This includes alpha particles and beta particles (both subatomic sized) as well as gamma rays. *Radiation* is emitted in a straight line and causes chemical reactions in objects that it hits, but it does not make other things radioactive.
*Radioactive contamination* refers to small pieces of radioactive material. Each piece of contamination (which can be large pieces, dust sized, or even smaller) contains millions of atoms that individually emit radiation. Like regular dust or dirt, contamination can be spread around by surface contact or in an airborne fashion.
At Chernobyl, the reactor was severely damaged and caught fire. The fire spread large amounts of *contamination* (individual pieces of highly radioactive material) into the local area and the atmosphere.
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