Radioactivity experiment - Essay Example

This also goes to the extent of explaining the practical sense involving radioactivity in the conclusions and recommendation segment. It clearly brings out the sense of radioactive decay in that, it ascertains on the fact that it indeed has to do with spontaneous disintegration of atomic nucleus that leads to release of matter and energy from the entire nucleus. This form of radioactivity experiment might seem simple but the logic behind it is very critical. The main objective behind the lab experiment was the aspect whereby I was investigating the radioactive decay concept by use of coins to simulate the decaying nuclei.

Here, tossed coins were taken to have decayed when they came up as tails. The other objective and conclusion that was arrived at was on the importance of using coins in such an experiment, as well as the aspect of coin variations in terms of numbers with regards to both experiments. Radioactivity generally refers to the emission of particles or substances from the nuclei mainly due to nuclear instability. On the other hand, radioactive decay refers to spontaneous disintegration of atomic nucleus that leads to release of matter and energy from the entire nucleus.

Radioisotope has got unstable nuclei with little binding energy for holding the nucleus collectively (EDUCATION RESOURCES, 2014). Radioisotopes often experience constant motions with the ultimate verge of trying to gain stability. That kind of process often leads to release of matter and energy, hence leading to a sort of transformation into a new substance. This entire process is known as transmutation, and has to do with the aspect of transformation of one element to another due to nucleus change.

The transmutation process and radioactive decay will persist until new elements with more stable nucleus are formed. This process can either occur naturally or artificially. There exist three main categories of