Are they the same thing? Are they different? Is it a thing like all radioactivity is radiation but not all radiation is radioactivity? Thanks!
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Radioactivity would pretty much be the process of emitting particles due to nucleus instability.
Radiation, colloquially, would mean the same thing. Formally, all forms of particle and electromagnetic emission are “radiation,” but even moderately formal usage would imply the *harmful* version of radiation.
Radioactivity is the process of generating radiation.
So when you say “that object is radioactive”, that means it’s generating radiation.
“Radiation” is a collective term for a number of different types of energetic particles that are given off by radioactive materials.
EDIT: This answer is only in the “radioactivity” context. See Chromotron’s comment below, “radiation” can refer to many other things too, which *don’t* come from “radioactive” sources.
Radiation refers to energy or particles being emitted from a source and spreading out (radiating).
Radioactivity refers to a specific source of radiation, where atomic nuclei that are not stable break apart, and release radiation in the process.
Light is a kind of radiation, but it doesn’t require atomic decay to be produced, it can be made by chemical changes or heat as well.
If you think of radiation as being similar to noise, then something tfragile hat falls apart and makes a crashing noise is similar to a radioactive substance. A really loud noise can cause damage, and if there are lots of fragile noisy things close together, then one breaking noise could cause other things nearby to break, producing a chain reaction of noise and crashing.
First, there are two types of radiation: electromagnetic radiation and particle radiation. Anything can let off electromagnetic radiation (for example, burning something) but only nuclear reactions can release particle radiation (they can also release EM radiation.)
Anything that releases particle radiation is radioactive. Radioactive things emit particle radiation and become less radioactive over time, eventually emiting enough particles to become stable.
So, you can think of radioactive material as being like an unbalanced piece of matter that has too many pieces jammed into it. It wants to release those pieces to become more stable and balanced. When it releases a piece it goes flying off and potentially damaging things it hits… That’s particle radiation.
Thank you everyone for your comments. This is far more interesting than I expected!
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