I know now that when isotopes are unstable, something may become radioactive. But what exactly does that mean?
In: Physics
It means those isotopes are decaying into other, more stable isotopes. When they do, they emit either alpha particles (essentially helium nuclei), or energetic fast elections (alpha decay and beta decay respectively). Some isotopes also land in a highly unstable nucleus arrangement that needs to be rebalanced, which causes the emission of a very high energy photon (gamma decay).
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