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introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
these different versions of elements are called isotopes , and small quantities of radioactive isotopes often occur in nature . for instance , a small amount of carbon exists in the atmosphere as radioactive carbon-14 , and the amount of carbon-14 found in fossils allows paleontologists to determine their age . in this...
wait so how would we know how much c14 was in the atmosphere at any given time and therefore be able to determine the age ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
often , elements come in both radioactive and nonradioactive versions that differ in the number of neutrons they contain . these different versions of elements are called isotopes , and small quantities of radioactive isotopes often occur in nature . for instance , a small amount of carbon exists in the atmosphere as r...
is it possible to manufacture radioactive isotopes in the lab when required ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the atomic mass of a single atom is simply its total mass and is typically expressed in atomic mass units or amu . by definition , an atom of carbon with six neutrons , carbon-12 , has an atomic mass of 12 amu . other atoms don ’ t generally have round-number atomic masses for reasons that are a little beyond the scope...
why is carbon-12 used as the measurement of relative masses ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope radioactive . atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what a...
how do you distinguish among atomic mass , average atomic mass , and atomic mass unit ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the relative atomic masses given in periodic table entries—like the one for hydrogen , below—are calculated for all the naturally occurring isotopes of each element , weighted by the abundance of those isotopes on earth . extraterrestrial objects , like asteroids or meteors , might have very different isotope abundance...
what is the easy meaning of isotope ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
forms of the same atom that differ only in their number of neutrons are called isotopes . together , the number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an element ’ s mass number : mass number = protons + neutrons . if you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has , you can simply subtract the number of p...
how can we calculate the atomic number for an ion like `` k+1 '' am i consider the atomic number , the number of protons or , the number of electrons ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
so what exactly causes an isotope to be unstable if c-13 is fine but c-14 decays ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
if carbon 14 is decaying , would n't it make the atom stable at one point ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
but what exactly does it mean for something to be radioactive ? radioactivity is actually a property of an atom . radioactive atoms have unstable nuclei , and they will eventually release subatomic particles to become more stable , giving off energy—radiation—in the process .
what does an electron have to do with an atom ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
forms of the same atom that differ only in their number of neutrons are called isotopes . together , the number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an element ’ s mass number : mass number = protons + neutrons . if you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has , you can simply subtract the number of p...
i know protons form the element , and neutrons form the isotope , but what does an electron do ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
extraterrestrial objects , like asteroids or meteors , might have very different isotope abundances . isotopes and radioactive decay as mentioned above , isotopes are different forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons . many elements—such as carbon , potassium , and ura...
can the radioactive decay cause any harm to humans using the element ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what atom we are looking at ( e.g. , all atoms with six protons are carbon atoms ) ; the number of protons in an atom is called the atomic number . in cont...
why does the amount of protons in an atom makes it unique ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
often , elements come in both radioactive and nonradioactive versions that differ in the number of neutrons they contain . these different versions of elements are called isotopes , and small quantities of radioactive isotopes often occur in nature . for instance , a small amount of carbon exists in the atmosphere as r...
so all atoms are isotopes , but some are stable and some radioactive ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
many elements—such as carbon , potassium , and uranium—have multiple naturally occurring isotopes . carbon-12 contains six protons , six neutrons , and six electrons ; therefore , it has a mass number of 12 ( six protons plus six neutrons ) . carbon-14 contains six protons , eight neutrons , and six electrons ; its mas...
why is carbon 12 an isotope , when it doesnt have a greater amount of neutrons than protons ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
for instance , a small amount of carbon exists in the atmosphere as radioactive carbon-14 , and the amount of carbon-14 found in fossils allows paleontologists to determine their age . in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope ...
what makes an isotope reactive ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope radioactive . atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what a...
what is the difference between mass number and atomic mass ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
does the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 change or remain the same as the decay occurs ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
how do scientists predict how much carbon-14 was in an original sample at the time of fossilization ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope radioactive . atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what a...
does n't that assume that the relative ratios between c12/c13/c14 are the same today as they 've always been ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
forms of the same atom that differ only in their number of neutrons are called isotopes . together , the number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an element ’ s mass number : mass number = protons + neutrons . if you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has , you can simply subtract the number of p...
if you are given an elements atomic number and mass can you calculate the number of neutrons ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
which particles were missed by carbon to become nitrogen ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
how do you know if the ratio of carbon-14 50 000 yeas ago has the same ratio in the atmosphere nowadays ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
some isotopes are stable , but others can emit , or kick out , subatomic particles to reach a more stable , lower-energy , configuration . such isotopes are called radioisotopes , and the process in which they release particles and energy is known as decay . radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons...
so if energy ca n't be created or destroyed , where do the protons go in the decaying process ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
but what exactly does it mean for something to be radioactive ? radioactivity is actually a property of an atom . radioactive atoms have unstable nuclei , and they will eventually release subatomic particles to become more stable , giving off energy—radiation—in the process .
is there away to lengthen the life span of an atom ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
but what exactly does it mean for something to be radioactive ? radioactivity is actually a property of an atom . radioactive atoms have unstable nuclei , and they will eventually release subatomic particles to become more stable , giving off energy—radiation—in the process .
what are the actual force that causes an atom to decay ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
these two alternate forms of carbon are isotopes . some isotopes are stable , but others can emit , or kick out , subatomic particles to reach a more stable , lower-energy , configuration . such isotopes are called radioisotopes , and the process in which they release particles and energy is known as decay .
also what makes an atom stable at its 1/2 life and if it is stable why does it continue to decay afterwards ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the ratio of the original isotope to its decay product and to stable isotopes changes in a predictable way ; this predictability allows the relative abundance of the isotope to be used as a clock that measures the time from the incorporation of the isotope ( e.g. , into a fossil ) to the present . for example , carbon ...
does carbon dating relate to this in any way ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
isotopes and radioactive decay as mentioned above , isotopes are different forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons . many elements—such as carbon , potassium , and uranium—have multiple naturally occurring isotopes . carbon-12 contains six protons , six neutrons , and ...
why are there elements such as dubnium that have no purpose in the world ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons in the nucleus ; when this happens , the identity of the atom changes ( e.g. , carbon-14 decaying to nitrogen-14 ) . radioactive decay is a random but exponential process , and an isotope ’ s half-life is the period over which half of the material will decay...
just to be clear , stable isotopic forms do not decay and therefore , can not be used for measuring half life , right ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
for instance , a small amount of carbon exists in the atmosphere as radioactive carbon-14 , and the amount of carbon-14 found in fossils allows paleontologists to determine their age . in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope ...
we know that atoms are the building blocks of life , but where did atoms come from ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons in the nucleus ; when this happens , the identity of the atom changes ( e.g. , carbon-14 decaying to nitrogen-14 ) . radioactive decay is a random but exponential process , and an isotope ’ s half-life is the period over which half of the material will decay...
is a halflife the amount of time for half the material to decay into the next atom , or is it half the time for all the material to decay into the next atom ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
these different versions of elements are called isotopes , and small quantities of radioactive isotopes often occur in nature . for instance , a small amount of carbon exists in the atmosphere as radioactive carbon-14 , and the amount of carbon-14 found in fossils allows paleontologists to determine their age . in this...
based on the picture , is the length of life in any one carbon-14 isotope dependent on the starting amount of atoms ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
if so , does that mean that a single carbon-14 atom will always exist for about one half-life ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the atomic mass of a single atom is simply its total mass and is typically expressed in atomic mass units or amu . by definition , an atom of carbon with six neutrons , carbon-12 , has an atomic mass of 12 amu . other atoms don ’ t generally have round-number atomic masses for reasons that are a little beyond the scope...
how was 12 amu itself was calculated for carbon 12. ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
other elements have isotopes with different half lives , and can thus be used to measure age on different timescales . for example , potassium-40 has a half-life of 1.25 billion years , and uranium-235 has a half-life of about 700 million years and has been used to measure the age of moon rocks $ ^2 $ .
how do we know potassium-40 has a half-life of 1.25 billion years ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
forms of the same atom that differ only in their number of neutrons are called isotopes . together , the number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an element ’ s mass number : mass number = protons + neutrons . if you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has , you can simply subtract the number of p...
and another question ( sorry ) : if radioactivity can change the proton number , does that mean scientists can make any substance into another substance ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
in paragraph 9 and 10 , why is carbon 14 so important to us ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope radioactive . atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what a...
if i am given atomic weight of 140.12 for ce , how can i calculate the atomic mass of 138 ce ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
but what exactly does it mean for something to be radioactive ? radioactivity is actually a property of an atom . radioactive atoms have unstable nuclei , and they will eventually release subatomic particles to become more stable , giving off energy—radiation—in the process .
an atom decay just once ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive decay is a random but exponential process , and an isotope ’ s half-life is the period over which half of the material will decay to a different , relatively stable product . the ratio of the original isotope to its decay product and to stable isotopes changes in a predictable way ; this predictability allo...
how do i calculate the relative abundance of an isotope ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
if c-14 has 2 more neutrons than c-12 then how come c-14 is more unstable/radioactive than c-12 ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in contrast , the number of neutrons for a given element can vary . forms of the same atom that differ only in their number of neutrons are called isotopes . together , the number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an element ’ s mass number : mass number = protons + neutrons .
are n't more neutrons supposed to mean the atom is more stable since they exert more strong nuclear force ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive atoms have unstable nuclei , and they will eventually release subatomic particles to become more stable , giving off energy—radiation—in the process . often , elements come in both radioactive and nonradioactive versions that differ in the number of neutrons they contain . these different versions of elemen...
what makes the elements radioactive ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as carbon-14 decays gradually to nitrogen-14 $ ^2 $ . after a half-life of approximately 5,730 years , half of the carbon-14 that was initially present will have been co...
why does the `` time '' of the half life only begin once the living thing is dead ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
these different versions of elements are called isotopes , and small quantities of radioactive isotopes often occur in nature . for instance , a small amount of carbon exists in the atmosphere as radioactive carbon-14 , and the amount of carbon-14 found in fossils allows paleontologists to determine their age . in this...
can we examine the age of fossils by measuring the amount of nitrogen-14 ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
by comparing the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 concentrations in an object to the same ratio in the atmosphere , equivalent to the starting concentration for the object , the fraction of the isotope that has not yet decayed can be determined . on the basis of this fraction , the age of the material can be calculated ...
and , why the material has to be not older than 50,000 years to calculate accurately ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
forms of the same atom that differ only in their number of neutrons are called isotopes . together , the number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an element ’ s mass number : mass number = protons + neutrons . if you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has , you can simply subtract the number of p...
so c14 would be classified as neutral since the number electrons is the same as the protons ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
some isotopes are stable , but others can emit , or kick out , subatomic particles to reach a more stable , lower-energy , configuration . such isotopes are called radioisotopes , and the process in which they release particles and energy is known as decay . radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons...
does the decay ever cause the atom to lose it 's neutral properties ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope radioactive . atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what a...
what is the need to compare relative atomic mass to carbon 12 mass ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope radioactive . atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what a...
in the atomic mass , why does the protons and neutrons get added together but not the electrons ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
if radioactive decay is a process where atoms release subatomic particles , how can carbon-14 decay into nitrogen-14 when nitrogen has more protons than carbon ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
thanks khan academy , now i 've a question ; it says that carbon-14 decays to nitrogen-14 , based on the info , decaying means losing subatomic particles so why nitrogen-14 still has atomic mass of 14 ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
this property can be used to date formerly living objects such as old bones or wood . by comparing the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 concentrations in an object to the same ratio in the atmosphere , equivalent to the starting concentration for the object , the fraction of the isotope that has not yet decayed can be d...
can we imagine a future when it will be completely decayed and wiped out from this universe ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
other elements have isotopes with different half lives , and can thus be used to measure age on different timescales . for example , potassium-40 has a half-life of 1.25 billion years , and uranium-235 has a half-life of about 700 million years and has been used to measure the age of moon rocks $ ^2 $ .
how did we find out that the half-life takes 700 million years ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
some isotopes are stable , but others can emit , or kick out , subatomic particles to reach a more stable , lower-energy , configuration . such isotopes are called radioisotopes , and the process in which they release particles and energy is known as decay . radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons...
if a radioactive decay occurs in an atom , should it always decay to some other element ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope radioactive . atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what a...
basically , should the atomic number ( proton number ) always change ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
but what exactly does it mean for something to be radioactive ? radioactivity is actually a property of an atom . radioactive atoms have unstable nuclei , and they will eventually release subatomic particles to become more stable , giving off energy—radiation—in the process .
if we ca n't really `` see '' electrons ( since they look kind of hazy from the video ) , how can we know how many electrons an atom has ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the ratio of the original isotope to its decay product and to stable isotopes changes in a predictable way ; this predictability allows the relative abundance of the isotope to be used as a clock that measures the time from the incorporation of the isotope ( e.g. , into a fossil ) to the present . for example , carbon ...
what determines which version of carbon , or in general any element , will be stable or not , and hence be radioactive or not ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
forms of the same atom that differ only in their number of neutrons are called isotopes . together , the number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an element ’ s mass number : mass number = protons + neutrons . if you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has , you can simply subtract the number of p...
does it have do to something with the size of the nucleus , that is that it can only hold a certain number of protons and neutrons ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons in the nucleus ; when this happens , the identity of the atom changes ( e.g. , carbon-14 decaying to nitrogen-14 ) . radioactive decay is a random but exponential process , and an isotope ’ s half-life is the period over which half of the material will decay...
how was/is the half-life of an isotope measured or determined ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons in the nucleus ; when this happens , the identity of the atom changes ( e.g. , carbon-14 decaying to nitrogen-14 ) . radioactive decay is a random but exponential process , and an isotope ’ s half-life is the period over which half of the material will decay...
is it possible for a radioactive isotope to `` decay twice '' ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons in the nucleus ; when this happens , the identity of the atom changes ( e.g. , carbon-14 decaying to nitrogen-14 ) . radioactive decay is a random but exponential process , and an isotope ’ s half-life is the period over which half of the material will decay...
if there is no `` whole life '' and only `` half life '' , what is the word for the total length that it takes for a radioisotope to completely decay ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
what is the evidence to support that the atmospheric proportions of c-12 , c-13 and c-14 ( ie ) have remained constant over billions of years ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons in the nucleus ; when this happens , the identity of the atom changes ( e.g. , carbon-14 decaying to nitrogen-14 ) . radioactive decay is a random but exponential process , and an isotope ’ s half-life is the period over which half of the material will decay...
would it decay in the greater macrocosm , just as within the microcosm of the fossilized organism ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
these two alternate forms of carbon are isotopes . some isotopes are stable , but others can emit , or kick out , subatomic particles to reach a more stable , lower-energy , configuration . such isotopes are called radioisotopes , and the process in which they release particles and energy is known as decay .
in the section of the article that speaks of isotopes and radioactive decay , in the first paragraph it states that radioactive atom will kick out sub-atomic particles in order to attain a more stable configuration ; my question is , when the atom kicks out these particles , where do they go ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
for instance , a small amount of carbon exists in the atmosphere as radioactive carbon-14 , and the amount of carbon-14 found in fossils allows paleontologists to determine their age . in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope ...
how is it possible that an atoms identity can change to form another element ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
in the penultimate paragraph , it says that the same concentration of carbon-14 in a plant 's tissue matches the same concentration of carbon-14 in the atmosphere , but why do they match ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for instance—or , in the case of spider-man , a bite from a radioactive spider . but what exactly does it mean for something to be radioactive ? radioactivity is actually a property of an atom .
how does something become radioactive ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
how can carbon 14 and nitrogen 14 have the same atomic weight while being different elements ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the ratio of the original isotope to its decay product and to stable isotopes changes in a predictable way ; this predictability allows the relative abundance of the isotope to be used as a clock that measures the time from the incorporation of the isotope ( e.g. , into a fossil ) to the present . for example , carbon ...
when the carbon degrades does it add a neutron ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
other elements have isotopes with different half lives , and can thus be used to measure age on different timescales . for example , potassium-40 has a half-life of 1.25 billion years , and uranium-235 has a half-life of about 700 million years and has been used to measure the age of moon rocks $ ^2 $ .
how is the 1/2 life of an atom determined ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope radioactive . atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what a...
what is relationship between atomic number and isotopes ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as carbon-14 decays gradually to nitrogen-14 $ ^2 $ . after a half-life of approximately 5,730 years , half of the carbon-14 that was initially present will have been co...
how do you know for sure that the half life of carbon-14 is 5,730 years ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
in this article , we ’ ll look in more detail at the subatomic particles that different atoms contain as well as what makes an isotope radioactive . atomic number , atomic mass , and relative atomic mass atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons . in fact , the number of protons determines what a...
what type of relationship is there between half-life and atomic number ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
on the basis of this fraction , the age of the material can be calculated with accuracy if it is not much older than about 50,000 years . other elements have isotopes with different half lives , and can thus be used to measure age on different timescales . for example , potassium-40 has a half-life of 1.25 billion year...
so do atoms have different symbols ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as carbon-14 decays gradually to nitrogen-14 $ ^2 $ . after a half-life of approximately 5,730 years , half of the carbon-14 that was initially present will have been co...
can you date the half life of other elements vital to life , say phosphorous or nitrogen and still find and an accurate picture of how that life was or is ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
carbon-12 contains six protons , six neutrons , and six electrons ; therefore , it has a mass number of 12 ( six protons plus six neutrons ) . carbon-14 contains six protons , eight neutrons , and six electrons ; its mass number is 14 ( six protons plus eight neutrons ) . these two alternate forms of carbon are isotope...
do all three , protons neurons , and electrons always have to have the same amount ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the relative atomic masses given in periodic table entries—like the one for hydrogen , below—are calculated for all the naturally occurring isotopes of each element , weighted by the abundance of those isotopes on earth . extraterrestrial objects , like asteroids or meteors , might have very different isotope abundance...
how is it that possible for an isotope to form for millions and billions of years ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the atomic mass of a single atom is simply its total mass and is typically expressed in atomic mass units or amu . by definition , an atom of carbon with six neutrons , carbon-12 , has an atomic mass of 12 amu . other atoms don ’ t generally have round-number atomic masses for reasons that are a little beyond the scope...
how are you supposed to know if a carbon atom has only 4 electrons and not 6 ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
it says that isotopes of a element decay to convert to lower energy level , but carbon 14 converts to nitrogen 14 , since carbon has 6 protons+electrons and nitrogen has 7 electrons+protons , does n't carbon 14 isotope already has lower energy level than nitrogen ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
but what exactly does it mean for something to be radioactive ? radioactivity is actually a property of an atom . radioactive atoms have unstable nuclei , and they will eventually release subatomic particles to become more stable , giving off energy—radiation—in the process .
how do the outermost electrons determine the behavior of the atom ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
if you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has , you can simply subtract the number of protons , or atomic number , from the mass number . a property closely related to an atom ’ s mass number is its atomic mass . the atomic mass of a single atom is simply its total mass and is typically expressed in atomic mas...
how do you get the atomic mass of an atom ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
carbon-12 contains six protons , six neutrons , and six electrons ; therefore , it has a mass number of 12 ( six protons plus six neutrons ) . carbon-14 contains six protons , eight neutrons , and six electrons ; its mass number is 14 ( six protons plus eight neutrons ) . these two alternate forms of carbon are isotope...
but how do we know how many electrons or neutrons ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
who discovered carbon 14 in the first place ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive decay is a random but exponential process , and an isotope ’ s half-life is the period over which half of the material will decay to a different , relatively stable product . the ratio of the original isotope to its decay product and to stable isotopes changes in a predictable way ; this predictability allo...
''the ratio of the original isotope to its decay product and to stable isotopes changes in a predictable way , and this predictability allows the relative abundance of the isotope to be used as a clock that measures the time from the incorporation of the isotope '' what does this mean ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
forms of the same atom that differ only in their number of neutrons are called isotopes . together , the number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an element ’ s mass number : mass number = protons + neutrons . if you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has , you can simply subtract the number of p...
would n't be more exact just to know how much weights a single proton and a single neutron and then just multiply for the number of atoms and neutrons in the element to know the mass ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
isotopes and radioactive decay as mentioned above , isotopes are different forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons . many elements—such as carbon , potassium , and uranium—have multiple naturally occurring isotopes . carbon-12 contains six protons , six neutrons , and ...
what 's the difference between potassium-40 and regular potassium ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
on the basis of this fraction , the age of the material can be calculated with accuracy if it is not much older than about 50,000 years . other elements have isotopes with different half lives , and can thus be used to measure age on different timescales . for example , potassium-40 has a half-life of 1.25 billion year...
why are the elements given different numbers as well as their original name ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactivity is actually a property of an atom . radioactive atoms have unstable nuclei , and they will eventually release subatomic particles to become more stable , giving off energy—radiation—in the process . often , elements come in both radioactive and nonradioactive versions that differ in the number of neutrons...
what is a subatomic particle ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as carbon-14 decays gradually to nitrogen-14 $ ^2 $ . after a half-life of approximately 5,730 years , half of the carbon-14 that was initially present will have been co...
if its half life takes 5,730 years , was there the same concentration of carbon14 a long time ago ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
but what exactly does it mean for something to be radioactive ? radioactivity is actually a property of an atom . radioactive atoms have unstable nuclei , and they will eventually release subatomic particles to become more stable , giving off energy—radiation—in the process .
so i want to know what atom is in an rtg ( radioisotope thermometric generator ) and why we do n't use them on earth in large numbers ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
if carbon-14 is only kicking out electrons should n't it still be called carbon , since an element is defined by how many protons it has ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
extraterrestrial objects , like asteroids or meteors , might have very different isotope abundances . isotopes and radioactive decay as mentioned above , isotopes are different forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons . many elements—such as carbon , potassium , and ura...
so just clarifying , when radioactive decay occurs , neutrons decay into protons ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
radioactive decay can cause a change in the number of protons in the nucleus ; when this happens , the identity of the atom changes ( e.g. , carbon-14 decaying to nitrogen-14 ) . radioactive decay is a random but exponential process , and an isotope ’ s half-life is the period over which half of the material will decay...
also can radioactive decay happen with other elements ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
isotopes and radioactive decay as mentioned above , isotopes are different forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons . many elements—such as carbon , potassium , and uranium—have multiple naturally occurring isotopes . carbon-12 contains six protons , six neutrons , and ...
how many isotopes of oxygen ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
if you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has , you can simply subtract the number of protons , or atomic number , from the mass number . a property closely related to an atom ’ s mass number is its atomic mass . the atomic mass of a single atom is simply its total mass and is typically expressed in atomic mas...
how do we know the initial mass of c-14 ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
as animals eat the plants , or eat other animals that ate plants , the concentrations of carbon-14 in their bodies will also match the atmospheric concentration . when an organism dies , it stops taking in carbon-14 , so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in its remains , such as fossilized bones , will decline as car...
i meant at the time an organism dies , there must be some c-14 and c-12 left in its body , right ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the ratio of the original isotope to its decay product and to stable isotopes changes in a predictable way ; this predictability allows the relative abundance of the isotope to be used as a clock that measures the time from the incorporation of the isotope ( e.g. , into a fossil ) to the present . for example , carbon ...
how come the carbon is still in the fossil ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
the ratio of the original isotope to its decay product and to stable isotopes changes in a predictable way ; this predictability allows the relative abundance of the isotope to be used as a clock that measures the time from the incorporation of the isotope ( e.g. , into a fossil ) to the present . for example , carbon ...
would n't the carbon have disappeared or something ?
introduction radioactivity pops up fairly often in the news . for instance , you might have read about it in discussions of nuclear energy , the fukushima reactor tragedy , or the development of nuclear weapons . it also shows up in popular culture : many superheroes ’ origin stories involve radiation exposure , for in...
extraterrestrial objects , like asteroids or meteors , might have very different isotope abundances . isotopes and radioactive decay as mentioned above , isotopes are different forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons . many elements—such as carbon , potassium , and ura...
does that mean if you take a sample clump of some element , there will be isotopes clustered in with the regular atoms ?