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Lesson 1
What is radon?
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Slide 1-2
Which characteristics apply to radon?
• Liquid• Gas• Solid
• Colorless• Grayish-green• Greenish-blue
• Smells like ozone• Has no smell
• Has no taste• Tastes metallic• Tastes like chicken
• Occurs in nature• Made by humans
• Reacts readily chemically• Does not readily react chemically
(is inert)
• Has a static electrical charge• Has no static electrical charge
• Radioactive• Not radioactive
• Harmful to human health• Harmless to human health
See handout 1-1
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Slide 1-3
Characteristics of radon
• Liquid• Gas• Solid
• Colorless• Grayish-green• Greenish-blue
• Smells like ozone• Has no smell
• Has no taste• Tastes metallic• Tastes like chicken
• Occurs in nature• Made by humans
• Reacts readily chemically• Does not readily react
chemically (is inert)
• Has a static electrical charge• Has no static electrical
charge
• Radioactive• Not radioactive
• Harmful to human health• Harmless to human health
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Slide 1-4
Is there radon in this room?
• Why would we care?– Radon is harmful to human health – Leading cause of lung cancer among
nonsmokers
• How would we know if there were radon in the room?– Radon may occur anywhere– Radon has no color, odor, or taste, so we
cannot detect with our senses– We can tell only by measuring
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Slide 1-5
Background for understanding radioactivity
Simple atom• Nucleus
– Protons (+ or positive charge)
– Neutrons (no charge)
• Electrons (- or negative charge)
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Slide 1-6
Radon (Rn) atom
Radon is an element: a basic unit of matter
Atomic number = Number of protons86
Atomic mass or mass number =
Number of protons + number of neutrons
Varies
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Slide 1-7
Naturally occurring radon isotopes
Isotopes: different forms of an element with different atomic masses
Number of protons
Number of neutrons
Atomic mass
Radon-219 86 133 219
Radon-220 86 134 220
Radon-222 86 136 222
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Slide 1-8
Radiation = energy emitted as invisible • Particles• Waves• Rays
Isotopes
• May be stable or unstable• Unstable isotopes
(radioactive) decay spontaneously (change to another element) called– Decay products– Progeny – Daughters
• During decay, unstable isotopes give off radiation
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Slide 1-9
Radon decay series
Radon-222
Polonium-218
Bismuth-214
Polonium-214
Lead-210
Lead-214
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Slide 1-10
Radon and its decay products
Radon Decay products
Gas Solid
Chemically inactive Chemically active
No static electrical charge
Electrically charged
Primary source of cell damage leading to lung cancer
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Slide 1-11
Types of radiation released
Alpha () Beta () Gamma ()
Relatively large mass
Relatively small mass
No mass
= 2 protons and 2 neutrons
= 1 electron = pure energy (electromagnetic radiation)
Electrical charge of +2
Electrical charge of -1
No electrical charge
Moves slowly Moves quickly Moves at the speed of light
Least penetrating Moderately penetrating
Most penetrating
Most damaging to human health
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Slide 1-12
Radiation released in radon decay
Radon-222 +
Polonium-218 +
Bismuth-214 +
Polonium-214 +
Lead-210
Lead-214 +
particles damage lung cells
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Slide 1-13
Rate of radioactive decay
• Expressed as half-life– Amount of time required for half of atoms to
decay
• Hypothetical example: a box of atoms of an element with half-life of 1 day– After 1 day, 50% of atoms will have decayed– After 2 days, 50% of remaining atoms will have
decayed• Box would contain 25% of original number of atoms
– And so on
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Slide 1-14
Hypothetical example1-day half-life in box of atoms
100.00
50.00
25.00
12.506.25 3.13 1.56 0.780
20
40
60
80
100
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of days
Percentage of atoms
remaining
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Slide 1-15
Half-life of radon3.8 days
In 3.8 days• Radon can move from soil, rock, and water
into air in a home– People breathe in the radon
• As radon decays– It releases radiation– It creates radon decay products, which may
remain in lungs and release more radiation as they decay
• Note: Radon gas is continually entering a home and decaying
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Slide 1-16
Half-lives of radon and its decay products
Radon-222 3.8 days
Polonium-218 3.1 minutes
Bismuth-214 19.7 minutes
Polonium-214 160 microseconds
Lead-210 22.6 years
Lead-214 26.8 minutes
Short half-lives
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Slide 1-17
Summary
• No color• No smell• No taste• No electrical
charge
• Gas• Radioactive
– Releases damaging particles during decay process
• Naturally occurring• Does not readily react
chemically• Harmful to human health
Radon is an element. What are its characteristics?
See handout 1-2
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Slide 1-18
Questions?
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Slide 1-19
Check your understanding
• See handout 1-3