Changes

==Energy of Radioactive Decay==

==Energy of Radioactive Decay==

The energies associated with radioactive decay, at least on the single atom level, are very, very small. The energies are so small, in fact, we use a special unit called the Electron Volt (eV) rather than the tradition units of Joules or Btu or Foot-pounds.

The energies associated with radioactive decay, at least on the single atom level, are very, very small. The energies are so small, in fact, we use a special unit called the Electron Volt (eV) rather than the traditional units of Joules or Btu or Foot-pounds.

Just for a point of comparison, it takes about a minute to boil a cup of water in a 1000 Watt microwave. One Watt is equivalent to one Joule per second, so it takes 60,000 Joules of energy to boil a cup of water. But a single Joule of energy is the same as 6.24x10¹⁸ eV!

Just for a point of comparison, it takes about a minute to boil a cup of water in a 1000 Watt microwave. One Watt is equivalent to one Joule per second, so it takes 60,000 Joules of energy to boil a cup of water. But a single Joule of energy is the same as 6.24x10¹⁸ eV!

So even when a nuclear decay has an associated energy in the thousands (keV) or millions (MeV) of electron volts, we're still billions of factors away from having enough energy to boil a cup of water. The danger is not from a single atomic decay, but from many trillions of atomic decays occurring within rapid succession, in which case we do reach energies capable of producing serious burns on the skin.  

So even when a nuclear decay has an associated energy in the thousands (keV) or millions (MeV) of electron volts, we're still billions of factors away from having enough energy to boil a cup of water. The danger is not from a single atomic decay, but from many trillions of atomic decays occurring within rapid succession, in which case we do reach energies capable of producing serious burns on the skin.

==Antiquated notions==

==Antiquated notions==