SITE USES FIND PRIVACY COOKIES INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PHYSICS PHYSICISTS FOR ALL HOME NEWS ABOUT US CONTACT CALENDAR SEARCH JOIN EVENTS PUBLICATIONS EDUCATION CAREERS POLICY RESOURCES YOU ARE HERE TOPIC THE MOMENT ARCHIVE RADIOACTIVITY ANTIMATTER THE APOLLO PROGRAMME ARCHEOLOGY ASTRONAUT TRAINING BARYOGENESIS THE PHYSICS ESPIONAGE CHRISTMAS CLOUD SEEDING COSMIC DISTANCE LADDER COSMIC INFLATION DNA THE END OF THE WORLD REACHING FOR THE STARS EXOPLANETS FACT FOOTBALL FUEL CELLS GEOLOCATION GRAPHENE CAREER STEPHEN HAWKING ARTIFICIAL HEART HERSCHEL SPACE OBSERVATORY HIGGS BOSON LEDS METAMATERIALS METEOR ASTEROID NAVIGATION ZONES NORTHERN LIGHTS PARTICLE DETECTION ROSETTA SETI SOLAR STORMS SPACE SPACE TRAVEL SPORT TELEVISION TRANSIT OF VENUS CRYPTOGRAPHY VOLCANIC ASH WEIGHTS PROTON THERAPY BLOOPER REEL LASERS MARIE CURIE LISE MEITNER ECLIPSES ASTROBIOLOGY COMMUNITY PHOTONIC CRYSTALS SOCIETY ECONOMY DISCOVERY GRAVITATIONAL WAVES HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT THOMAS KIBBLE WATER BOTTLE FLIP LOOK WHAT IT RISKS RADIOACTIVE DECAY UNSTABLE ATOMIC NUCLEI ONES DONT ENOUGH BINDING ENERGY HOLD NUCLEUS PROTONS COMES BETA GAMMA LETTERS THE GREEK ALPHA PARTICLE IDENTICAL HELIUM NUCLEUS MADE UP NEUTRONS BOUND PARENT QUANTUM MECHANICAL ELECTROMAGNETISM POSITIVELY CHARGED PROCESS CHANGES THE ORIGINAL ATOM MASS NUMBER ATOMIC NUMBER DECAY DAUGHTER NUCLIDES THE OTHER ITSELF TWO KINDS EMISSION THE TRANSFORMATION ELECTRON ANTINEUTRINO BYPRODUCTS FISSION NUCLEAR REACTORS UNDERGO SIMILAR PROTON CHANGING POSITRON ALPHA BETA DECAY LEFT EXCITED STATE EXCESS ENERGY MOVE ENERGY STATE PHOTON ULTRAVIOLET INFRARED ATOMIC NUCLEUS ENERGY RADIATION TRAVEL PARTICLES MILLIMETRES ALPHA PARTICLES TRACKS SHEET PAPER TYPE DAMAGE MATERIALS DETERMINED QUANTUM MECHANICS IMPOSSIBLE WORK OUT PARTICULAR WE CAN PREDICTIONS STATISTICAL BEHAVIOUR LARGE NUMBERS RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPE HALF MATERIAL QUARTER SO ON PLUTONIUM RADIOACTIVE THE CASE BILLION YEARS THE CURRENT AGE OF THE EARTH LIFETIME BE HERE WHEN THE SUN EIGHT ONCE LESS THAN NUCLEAR REACTOR RADIOISOTOPES IODINE STICKS THE MORE HAZARDOUS THOUGHT GREATEST HEALTH RISK RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS NATURALLY CERTAIN AMOUNT ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND NATURAL LEVEL ALL AROUND US COSMIC SOURCES THE ATMOSPHERE RADON GAS DECAY PRODUCTS THE GROUND THE OBVIOUS ELEMENTS URANIUM RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES COMMON POTASSIUM UNDERSTAND BACKGROUND RADIATION DISTINGUISH NORMAL MATTER THE HUMAN BODY MEASURED EQUIVALENT JOULE BIOLOGICAL TISSUE DOSE EQUIVALENT INVOLVED CELLS DOSE GRAYS QUALITY FACTOR TISSUE IRRADIATED ELECTRONS AVERAGE BACKGROUND THE UK HIGHER AREAS CORNWALL ABERDEENSHIRE TWICE HIGH ENOUGH CAUSE NUCLEAR CANT ALREADY MAXIMUM PARTS NORTHERN IRAN HIGH AS 50 VARIETY ROUTINE ARTIFICIAL CAUSES DENTAL GIVE CT SCAN FEWER COSMIC RAYS THE HIGHER THE CREW PASSENGER JET FLYING THE US JAPAN ONCE A WEEK NORMAL CONDITIONS LIMIT WORKERS INDUSTRY HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS CAUSED SHORTER GREATER HEALTH PROBLEMS BY KILLING DAMAGE DONE DEPENDS SPREAD LIMITS EMERGENCY WORKERS THE EVENT NUCLEAR ACCIDENT PROPERTY UPPER LIMIT EXPOSURE SYMPTOMS NAUSEA BONE MARROW LYMPH UP TO LIKELIHOOD INFECTIONS REDUCED NUMBER WHITE BLOOD CELLS THE BODY SURVIVAL ADDITION HAEMORRHAGING STERILITY SKIN PEEL DEATH THE SQUARE THE DISTANCE SOMEONE TWICE AS FAR AWAY EXTERNAL ACUTE KILL REPAIR RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL WIDER AREA PARTICULARLY ENTER THE FOOD CHAIN INHALED INGESTED PRESENTS DANGER ATOMS USED TO MURDER ALEXANDER LITVINENKO ISOTOPES OF IODINE BUILD UP THYROID GLAND THYROID CANCER ATTEMPTS PREVENT INVOLVE FLOOD UPTAKE RADIOACTIVE IODINE MEDICAL RISK CANCER LONGER PERIOD OF TIME EVENTUALLY DISAGREEMENT WHETHER VERY SMALL ACTUALLY FEEDBACK RELATED INFORMATION USEFUL LINKS COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL ASPECTS REPORT CHART WEBSITES YOUR GUIDE THE WEB COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER TERMS SITEMAP THE INSTITUTE CHARITY REGISTERED IN ENGLAND WALES SCOTLAND