I’ve been searching and can’t quite find the explanation I’m looking for. I’ve read that radioactivity comes from an atom containing too many neutrons, and so the neutrons will end up breaking off of the atom and go flying in some direction until it collides with something. Which leads me to my first part:
* What happens when this neutron collides with something?
* If we’re talking a person, I’m assuming it damages/destroys the cell it hits, does it bounce and keep destroying more? What if a person was exposed to insanely high radiation of this sort. Do they melt into a pile of goop as their cells are broken down?
I’ve read that the number after an element is supposed to represent the amount of neutrons. So Uranium-238 would have more neutrons than Uranium-235. But isn’t the protons/neutron/electron the entire makeup of the atom?
* How can the amount of neutrons differ and they still be considered the same element?
From what I understand, radioactive decay is what happens to a radioactive element naturally as it’s neutrons fire off.
* What happens to the element? Does it just eventually disappear or “evaporate”? What exactly happens to these atoms once the neutrons have all fired off?
* If the radioactive substance is a metal such as iridium, does it become super brittle once fully decayed? Crumble into dust?
I have absolutely no education or experience in this field, but it fascinates the hell out of me.
In: Chemistry
>What happens when this neutron collides with something?
Radioactive elements don’t usually release just neutrons. They usually release alpha particles (two neutrons+two protons all stuck together), release a beta particle (electron) and transform one of their electrons into a proton, or release gamma rays (pure energy in the form of extremely high energy electromagnetic waves). The details of exactly why they release certain ones at certain times is more ELIaphysicsgradstudent but the basic idea is “the atom has too much energy packed into a nucleus and needs to release that energy in particular-sized bursts.
>If we’re talking a person, I’m assuming it damages/destroys the cell it hits, does it bounce and keep destroying more? What if a person was exposed to insanely high radiation of this sort. Do they melt into a pile of goop as their cells are broken down?
The radiation particles or energy smacks into atoms in the cells (especially in DNA) and excites them, causing them to break out of whatever bonds they’re in. This makes the cells either die outright, destroy themselves because their DNA is so messed up, or not repair the damage properly and become cancerous. If you are exposed to a massive massive dose yes you would melt–think of somebody with an incredibly severe sunburn (which is a radiation burn). But even the most severe radioactive accidents usually result in a slow awful death over several days as all the body’s tissues break down.
>How can the amount of neutrons differ and they still be considered the same element?
An element is defined by the number of protons it has, since that affects the number of electrons it normally has, which affects the way it interacts with other atoms.
>What happens to the element? Does it just eventually disappear or “evaporate”? What exactly happens to these atoms once the neutrons have all fired off? If the radioactive substance is a metal such as iridium, does it become super brittle once fully decayed? Crumble into dust?
Nope. Every time an atom fires off an alpha particle or a beta particle, it actually *changes the type of atom it is.* You can see an image of what’s called a “decay chain” for an element [here](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/Decay_Chain_Thorium.svg/300px-Decay_Chain_Thorium.svg.png). A thorium-232 atom releases 2 protons and 2 neutrons in an alpha decay and becomes a radium-228 atom. That atom then releases an electron, turns one of its neutrons into a proton, and becomes an actinium-228 atom. This continues until it finally hits a stable type of atom–usually lead.
Inbetween those steps, it might fire off gamma rays if it needs to release a bit of extra energy before it can get to the next step.
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