This chapter explains the processes of radioactivity and radioactive decay, and discusses the characteristics of radioisotopes. You will learn how scientists use a radioisotope's characteristic rate of decay to determine the age of an ancient artifact. Also, you will learn about several types of radiation emitted during radioactive decay, namely, alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. Finally, you will learn the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.

In this chapter, you will learn: to discuss the processes of radioactivity and radioactive decay to characterize alpha, beta, and gamma radiation to use half-life information to determine the amount of radioisotope remaining to compare nuclear fission and nuclear fusion to describe the methods used in nuclear power plants to describe methods of detecting radiation