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Alpha Radioactivity in Tobacco Leaf—A Silent Demon


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1 School of Studies in Environmental Radiation and Archaeological Sciences & Nuclear and Particle Physics Research Centre, Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032, India
     

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Alpha radiation is the stream of alpha particles emitted when radioactive materials disintegrate. When radioactive material breaks down, there is a loss in the total mass of the products. According to the law of conservation of mass-energy there must be a corresponding energy release, which is the energy associated with the emission of the alpha particle. An alpha particle is a heavy nucleon, which is actually the nucleus of a helium atom. They are most active in unstable elements of high atomic mass. Alpha radiation is a result of alpha decay where a parent atom is profoundly changed through the release of alpha particles. With the release of each alpha particle, the atomic mass of the parent atom is reduced by 4 and the atomic number is reduced by 2. After a period of time, all atoms of a given amount of a radioactive element will reduce to a more stable isotope of that element or to a Imore stable element. This time period is measured by the time it takes for half of a given amount of Ettoms to be stabilized. One unit of this period is known as the half-life of the element. A half-life through alpha decay can be over five billion years (as with uranium) or as short as a fraction of a second (as with polonium).
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  • Alpha Radioactivity in Tobacco Leaf—A Silent Demon

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Authors

Dipak Ghosh
School of Studies in Environmental Radiation and Archaeological Sciences & Nuclear and Particle Physics Research Centre, Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032, India
Argha Deb
School of Studies in Environmental Radiation and Archaeological Sciences & Nuclear and Particle Physics Research Centre, Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032, India
Rosalima Sengupt
School of Studies in Environmental Radiation and Archaeological Sciences & Nuclear and Particle Physics Research Centre, Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032, India
Kanchan Kumar Patra
School of Studies in Environmental Radiation and Archaeological Sciences & Nuclear and Particle Physics Research Centre, Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032, India

Abstract


Alpha radiation is the stream of alpha particles emitted when radioactive materials disintegrate. When radioactive material breaks down, there is a loss in the total mass of the products. According to the law of conservation of mass-energy there must be a corresponding energy release, which is the energy associated with the emission of the alpha particle. An alpha particle is a heavy nucleon, which is actually the nucleus of a helium atom. They are most active in unstable elements of high atomic mass. Alpha radiation is a result of alpha decay where a parent atom is profoundly changed through the release of alpha particles. With the release of each alpha particle, the atomic mass of the parent atom is reduced by 4 and the atomic number is reduced by 2. After a period of time, all atoms of a given amount of a radioactive element will reduce to a more stable isotope of that element or to a Imore stable element. This time period is measured by the time it takes for half of a given amount of Ettoms to be stabilized. One unit of this period is known as the half-life of the element. A half-life through alpha decay can be over five billion years (as with uranium) or as short as a fraction of a second (as with polonium).