Though uranium is highly associated with radioactivity, its rate of decay is so low that this element is actually not one of the more radioactive ones out there. Uranium-238 has a half-life of an incredible 4.5 billion years. Uranium-235 has a half-life of just over 700 million years. ...
Uranium is radioactive, and the bombardment caused it to split apart, releasing another radioactive element, neptunium. That element was unstable, and it decayed into yet another, unknown radioactive element. Following the planetary theme, the scientists called it plutonium. Its potential as a nu...
the title of his new book. In it he explains that this churn of knowledge is like radioactive decay: you cannot predict which individual fact is going to succumb to it, but you can know how long it takes for half the facts in a discipline to become obsolete. Such quantitative analysis ...
Learn about Pangaea, Earth's most recent supercontinent, its formation, breakup, and the role it played in shaping our planet's geological history.
Both spacecraft are powered by threeradioisotope thermoelectric generators, devices that convert the heat released by the radioactive decay of plutonium to electricity. Both probes were outfitted with 10 scientific instruments, including a two-camera imaging system, multiple spectrometers, a magnetometer ...
Radioactive decay, where a proton or neutron in the radioactive nucleus decays spontaneously by emitting a particle Fusion, two atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus Fission, the breaking of heavy nucleus into two nuclei
Researchers have a few ways of telling the age of a fossil, depending on the rough estimate of when it formed. For instance, aging particularly old fossils requires Carbon-14 dating, a process by which scientists study the radioactive decay of elements in the fossil. Scientists can age more...
aRadon is a radioactive gas released from the normal decay of uranium in rocks and soil. It is an invisible, odorless, tasteless gas that seeps up through the ground and diffuses into the air. In a few areas, depending on local geology, radon dissolves into ground water and can be rele...
Curiosity, on the other hand, will use a radioisotope power system that generates electricity from the heat emitted by plutonium's radioactive decay. This means that Curiosity will be able to roam, in darkness and in light, year-round. Not since NASA's Viking landers launched in the 1970s...
Use these materials to see what you know about: What atoms lose because of radiation A type of radiation that is bad for humans Radioactive decay What isotopes of the same atom must have the same number of The atomic number of an atom ...