the.com/radioactive
an atom having a midlife crisis and throwing pieces of itself at you.
means an unstable atomic nucleus shedding particles or energy to become a more stable element.
from coined by marie curie in 1898 from the latin radius, ray, after she and pierre isolated polonium and radium and realized certain elements glowed with an energy of their own.
half-life rangemicroseconds to trillions of years, same physics
banana equivalent dosebananas are mildly radioactive from potassium-40
discovery accidentbecquerel found it via fogged photographic plates, 1896
curie's notebooksstill too radioactive to handle without protection
for instance
chernobyl reactor 4 — 1986 meltdown, exclusion zone still active today
trinity test site — 1945 blast fused sand into radioactive glass, trinitite
cobalt-60 sources — used in hospitals worldwide to kill cancer cells
radium girls — 1920s factory workers poisoned painting watch dials