Lesson 3.10 CP Unstable Atoms and Radiation
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Last updated 9 months ago
13 questions
The first video has a good explanation of why some atoms are stable and some are unstable.
A big problem when we talk about radiation is that there are actually three uses of the word in science. This video does a great job of helping you understand the two types of radiation. The third use of the word radiation is the mechanism by which energy is transferred by either of the two types of radiation.
Nuclear radiation is not all the same. Different unstable elements use different mechanisms to decay. Because there are three major ways atomic nuclei fall apart, there are three different types of radiation. Some of the types are better at ionizing atoms than others.