Characteristics of Radioactive Elements

What are Radioactive Elements in Periodic Table?

Some elements are not stable in nature due to the excessive charge concentrated at the nucleus, and because all elements want to be stable in nature, these elements undergo radioactive decay in order to be stable nuclei. These unstable elements are known as radioactive elements. Thus, we can say that the elements that undergo radioactive decay are called radioactive elements....

History of Radioactive Elements

In 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered spontaneous radioactivity in uranium salts while investigating a connection between phosphorescence and x-rays, which had just been discovered. Becquerel had been studying fluorescence and phosphorescence, a subject his father had been an expert in, and was skilled in photography. He found that the uranium salts emitted radiation without any stimulation from sunlight and confirmed that uranium was the element emitting the radiation. Becquerel’s discovery was accidental but significant and led to the study of other radioactive elements by Marie Cuire and Pierre Curie, who coined the term “radioactivity.” The accidental discovery of radioactivity is well-known in the history of physics....

List of Natural Radioactive Elements

There are very few radioactive elements that occur naturally as radioactive elements are highly unstable and they tend to disintegrate very quickly to other elements. Some of the naturally occurring elements are,...

What is Alpha Radiation?

Alpha radiation is a form of ionizing radiation composed of alpha particles (two protons and two neutrons). Although this sort of radiation has low penetrating strength and can be prevented by a sheet of paper or the outer layer of human skin, it can be hazardous if it enters the body by ingestion or inhalation. Alpha radiation is typically generated by heavy, unstable nuclei during the radioactive decay process....

List of Radioactive Elements on the Periodic Table

There are various radioactive elements on the periodic table, the radioactive element in the periodic table added below are shown using blue colour....

Examples of Radioactive Elements

Examples of all periodic table radioactive elements, their most stable isotope, and their half-life are given in the table below,...

Radioactive Metals

Radioactive metals refer to natural and synthetic metals that can release alpha (α), beta (β), and gamma (γ) rays. They can be put to use in many ways for the benefit of human beings, such as power generation, energy resources for spacecraft, nuclear batteries, material engineering, and cancer treatment. In the entire chain from mining to the final disposal of the radioactive metals, membrane separation has the potential to improve the efficiency of many steps. Pilot scale tests or applications have been carried out in laboratories and power plants worldwide....

Radioactive Element Decay

A radioactive atom will naturally emit radiation in the form of energy or particles in order to transition into a more stable state. This procedure is called Radioactive Decay....

Half-Life

Half-Life is the time period in which the radioactive substance goes through the process of radioactive decay and disintegrates into smaller more stable substances until its concentration remains half of the initial concentration. This time period is represented by t1/2 and as it is time, the unit of half-life is the same as time i.e., second, minute, hour, day, or year....

Characteristics of Radioactive Elements

Radioactive elements have several characteristics, including:...

Effects of Radioactive Elements

The body can suffer substantial damage from radiation released by radioactive materials because radiation can destroy the structural integrity of DNA, leading to abnormalities in the human genome and possibly to gene mutation and further can cause cancer as well....

Toxicity of Radioactive Elements

Radioactive elements can cause high damage to human beings if we even con in close contact with them because of the,...

Uses of Radioactive Elements

There are numerous significant uses for radioactive elements, including:...

Radioactive Elements – FAQs

1. What are Radioactive Elements?...