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Physics Tutorial 20.3 - Radioactivity and Half-Life

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There are 5 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Radioactivity and Half-Life. The tutorial starts with an introduction to Radioactivity and Half-Life and is then followed with a list of the separate lessons, the tutorial is designed to be read in order but you can skip to a specific lesson or return to recover a specific physics lesson as required to build your physics knowledge of Radioactivity and Half-Life. you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.

In this Physics tutorial, you will learn:

  • What is natural radioactivity? How is it produced?
  • How many types of radioactive decays are there?
  • What particles are emitted during each type of radioactive decay? Why?
  • What other particles are involved in both types of beta decay?
  • What are the factors affecting radioactive decay?
  • What is half-life? Why is it so important?
  • What is decay rate? What does it indicate in nuclear radioactivity?
  • How to calculate the number of undecayed particles and the rate of decay in a radioactive sample?

Introduction

As explained in article 20.1, natural occurring radioactivity was discovered accidentally by Henry Becquerel in 1896, one year after Rontgen discovered X-rays as a form of EM radiation. As stated earlier, Becquerel knew that natural radioactivity (the ability of an atomic nucleus to emit radiation by its own that is without any external action) was not a form of radiations known up to that time, so it required further and deeper studies.

This article explains more in detail the phenomenon of radioactivity with all its forms. Likewise, the corresponding mathematical relations governing the radioactivity laws and quantities are provided here, so that readers will understand how to estimate the danger arisen from exposure to radioactive substances.

Please select a specific "Radioactivity and Half-Life" lesson from the table below, review the video tutorial, print the revision notes or use the practice question to improve your knowledge of this physics topic.

Nuclear Physics Learning Material
Tutorial IDPhysics Tutorial TitleTutorialVideo
Tutorial
Revision
Notes
Revision
Questions
20.3Radioactivity and Half-Life
Lesson IDPhysics Lesson TitleLessonVideo
Lesson
20.3.1Natural Radioactivity. Becquerel's Experiment
20.3.2Alpha Decay
20.3.3Beta Decay
20.3.4Gamma Decay
20.3.5Half-Life

Whats next?

Enjoy the "Radioactivity and Half-Life" physics tutorial? People who liked the "Radioactivity and Half-Life" tutorial found the following resources useful:

  1. Physics tutorial Feedback. Helps other - Leave a rating for this tutorial (see below)
  2. Nuclear Physics Revision Notes: Radioactivity and Half-Life. Print the notes so you can revise the key points covered in the physics tutorial for Radioactivity and Half-Life
  3. Nuclear Physics Practice Questions: Radioactivity and Half-Life. Test and improve your knowledge of Radioactivity and Half-Life with example questins and answers
  4. Check your calculations for Nuclear Physics questions with our excellent Nuclear Physics calculators which contain full equations and calculations clearly displayed line by line. See the Nuclear Physics Calculators by iCalculator™ below.
  5. Continuing learning nuclear physics - read our next physics tutorial: Nuclear Reactions

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