The Most Radioactive Place on Earth

The Most Radioactive Place on Earth

Radioactive decay, also known as nuclear decay or radioactivity, is the process by which a nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emittingionizing radiation. A material that spontaneously emits this kind of radiation—which includes the emission of alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays—is considered radioactive.

Radioactive decay is a stochastic (i.e. random) process at the level of single atoms, in that, according to quantum theory, it is impossible to predict when a particular atom will decay. However, the chance that a given atom will decay never changes, that is, it does not matter how long the atom has existed. For a large number of atoms however, the decay rate for the collection can be calculated from the measured decay constants, and the half-lives of the nuclides calculated. These numbers have no known limits for shortness or length of duration, and range over 55 orders of magnitude in time.

Radioactive