Why are Hiroshima and Nagasaki safe to live while Marie Curie’s notebook won’t be safe to handle for at least another millennium?
In: Physics
With a nuclear weapon there are 3 main sources of radiation:
1. Prompt – This is the initial burst of radiation from the fission reaction itself. X-rays, gamma rays, neutrons etc. Just like the flash, they’re gone right after the weapon detonates
2. Neutron Activation – Certain materials when bombarded with high energy neutrons become radioactive. This is more an issue in reactors where materials are under constant neutron flux, but some of this will happen when the weapon goes off
3. Fallout – Literal pieces of the weapon itself. Essentially the vapour of what was left condenses on materials sucked into the dust cloud or precipitated in rain. Air bursts reduce this, but there can still be plenty. This tends to be the long lived dangerous material you have to be careful about. It gets on clothes, food, inhaled etc
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