Key Stage 4
Meaning
Radioactivity is the emission of ionising radiation from a sample of unstable isotopes.
About Radioactivity
- The term radioactivity was first coined by Marie Curie who also discovered the elements Polonium and Radium which were radioactive.
- The radioactivity of a sample is measured in Becquerels (Bq) which is the number of radioactive decays in a sample per second.
- The radioactivity of a sample depends upon the amount of unstable isotopes in the sample and the half life of the isotope.
- Radioactivity is a scalar quantity as it has magnitude but does not have a direction.