Look at some interesting and lesser-known facts about radioactiveness.
Hands on the clock, in order to glow in the dark, used to be painted with radioluminescent paints which contained radium, promethium or tritium, strong emitters of β-radiation.
Today fluorescent or phosphorescent paints, which are not radioactive, are used for that purpose.
Today fluorescent or phosphorescent paints, which are not radioactive, are used for that purpose.
Glass used to be painted with uranium oxide. Radioactivity of 'uranium' glass material is negligible, but measurable.
Carrying the beads in the picture for a year, a person can receive a dose of 3 mSv.
Most quarrying brings and deposits to Earth's surface naturally occurring radioactive materials.
This is why higher levels of radioactivity can be measured at mine dumps created by mining: bauxite (aluminum), copper, gypsum, phosphate, phosphorus, potassium, gold, pewter, titanium, vanadium and coal.
This is why higher levels of radioactivity can be measured at mine dumps created by mining: bauxite (aluminum), copper, gypsum, phosphate, phosphorus, potassium, gold, pewter, titanium, vanadium and coal.
The most expensive material in the world, not counting antimatter, is the isotope of californium 252Cf.
One gram of californium costs around USD 27 million!
Being a powerful source of neutron radiation, it is used for putting nuclear reactors into operation (kind of like a spark plug in the Otto car engine), and in medicine and research.
One gram of californium costs around USD 27 million!
Being a powerful source of neutron radiation, it is used for putting nuclear reactors into operation (kind of like a spark plug in the Otto car engine), and in medicine and research.
The first nuclear reactor was built in 1942 at the University of Chicago. It didn't produce electricity, instead it was used for first research into chain reaction.
It was named “Chicago Pile-1“, and Enrico Fermi, the main researcher, described it as a “crude pile of black bricks and wooden timbers“.
The first nuclear reactor used for production of electricity was put into operation in 1951 near Arco, Idaho. It produced enough electricity to power bulbs with total power of 200 W, and its primary purpose was for carrying out experiments.
It was named “Chicago Pile-1“, and Enrico Fermi, the main researcher, described it as a “crude pile of black bricks and wooden timbers“.
The first nuclear reactor used for production of electricity was put into operation in 1951 near Arco, Idaho. It produced enough electricity to power bulbs with total power of 200 W, and its primary purpose was for carrying out experiments.
The first nuclear power plant to produce usable electricity was built in Obninsk, Russia. It was in operation from 1954 until 2002.
The oldest known nuclear reactor occurred naturally, through geological processes in Oklo, Gabon. It was a result of groundwater concentrating uranium ore in 16 places, where a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction started 2 billion years ago and lasted for several hundred thousand years.
Cigarette smoke contains Polonium 210Po, a highly radioactive α-emitter, 250,000 times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide.
According to an OECD Nuclear Energy Agency estimate, economically exploitable amounts of uranium on Earth, at the current rate of consumption, are enough to keep the reactors in operation for over 200 years.
Next to Morro do Ferro (Iron Hill) in Brazil, Ramsar in Iran is an area with the highest level of natural radioactivity in the world.
The maximum measured dose in Ramsar is 260 mSv per year.
11% of the world's production of electricity comes from nuclear power plants.
In 2015 there were 438 reactors in operation and another 67 in construction around the world.
In France, 58 reactors provide 76.9% of the total electricity produced.
In 2015 there were 438 reactors in operation and another 67 in construction around the world.
In France, 58 reactors provide 76.9% of the total electricity produced.