What is natural radioactivity?
The term "natural radioactivity" concerns any source of radioactivity that is not created by man. The main sources of natural radioactivity include space radiation, earthly radiation and radiation from material in the human body. While high radiation levels produced by a person's human cells kill human cells and can cause cancer, it has not been found that low levels that naturally occur have no adverse effects on health. Every human being receives an average of 2.4 Milisievert (MSV) of natural radiation per year, although this amount varies depending on geographical location and occupation. The sun also emits radiation during sun flares. When these charged particles enter the Earth's atmosphere, they collide with atmospheric atoms and molecules to create other types of subatomical particles and radioactive isotopes, including carbon-14. The same number, but the number of neutrons will be different. The carbon-14 has a core that contains 6 protons and 8 neutrons, creating a total of 14nuclear particles. This isotope is radioactive, which means that it is spontaneously disintegrated and emits particles. The carbon-14 releases electricone, which breaks into a stable nitrogen-14 isotope after a fixed period of time. Materials containing carbon-14 can be placed in geological time using a process known as radiocarbon dating, in which the amount of carbon-14 in the material is used to determine its age.
earthly radiation is the second main source of natural radioactivity. This radiation comes from isotopes of carbon and potassium, as well as thorium and uranium, which can be found in soil, rocks or water. The latter two isotopes disintegrate into radon and radium, which are extremely radioactive, albeit rare. Their disintegration rate is also Quite long-for example, Uran-238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, which means that it takes 4.5 billion years to reduce the amount of substance to half. Long halfAS Uranus makes its effect on the human being negligible.
In addition to terrestrial and cosmic sources of natural radioactivity, substances in the human body also create radiation. A number of radioactive isotopes found in the human body have a terrestrial source because they were used by food, water or air. These include carbon-14, potassium-40, uranium, thorium, radium and more. The concentrations of these substances are largely low, the highest is the concentration of carbon and potassium.
The amount of natural radioactivity that one receives depends on geographical location. Some areas contain soils enriched with a particular isotope due to mineral deposits or organic processes. For example, wetlands may contain more uranium due to the break -up of organic material containing this element. The areas with higher altitude tend to receive more cosmic radiation because they are higher in the atmosphere. Astronauts and pilots receive more cosmic radiation daily than the average CLOage for the same reason.