Alpha Radioactivity in Tobacco Leaf—A Silent Demon

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).