Nuclear and Atomic Radiation Concepts Pictographically Demystified

Greetings, all.  Today I’m attempting a different, largely pictographic approach to demystifying the concept of “radiation” for the layperson.

Despite the hype, radiation is a natural part of our planet’s, solar system’s, and galaxy’s environment, and one that our biology is equipped to mitigate at ordinary intensities.  It’s all actually surprisingly straightforward.

So, without further ado, here goes – a post in two parts…

PART I – Radiation and Radioactivity Explained in 60 Seconds:

The Atom

This is a generic diagram of the atom, which in various combinations of the same bits and parts is the basic unique building block of all matter in the universe:

This somewhat simplified view of an atom is what makes up the classic “atomic” symbol that most of us were exposed to at the very least in high school.

Radioactive Atoms

However, what is almost never explained in school is that each atomic element comes in different versions – slimmer ones and fatter ones.  When an atom’s core gets too large, either naturally or artificially, it starts to radiate bits of itself away in order to “slim down.”  This is called being radio-active.

So, there’s nothing to “radiation” that we all haven’t been introduced to in school.  Radiation is the name given to familiar bits of atoms (electrons, protons, neutrons) or beams of light when they’re being flung away by an element trying desperately to squeeze into last year’s jeans… metaphorically-speaking, of course.

Here is a diagram illustrating this process.  (Relax! – this is the most complicated-looking diagram in this post):

So, when a radioactive element has radiated enough of itself away and is no longer too large, it is no longer radioactive.  (We say it has “decayed.”)

That’s it!

That’s as complicated as the essential principles of radiation and radioactivity get.  It’s just basic chemistry that isn’t covered in high school, (though in my opinion it should be!).

PART II – Take-Home Radiation Infographics

So, in an effort to help arm you against the rampant misinformation out there, here is a collection of simple diagrams explaining what everyone out there seems to get wrong.  (Feel free to promote and/or distribute with attribution!)

First, what’s the deal with “atomic” energy/radiation versus “nuclear” energy/radiation?  Do they mean the same thing?  Do they not?  Here’s the skinny:

That’s all.  “Nuclear” means you’ve zeroed in on an atom’s core, whereas “atomic” means you’re talking about something dealing with whole atoms.  No big mystery there.

Next, here is a simple diagram explaining the three terms used to describe radiation that are commonly misused in the media, presented clearly (click to enlarge):

(Armed with this, you should be able to see why saying something like, “The radiation is releasing contamination!” doesn’t make a lick of sense.)

Now, here is a diagram explaining the natural sources of radiation we’re exposed to everyday on planet Earth:

And here are the basic principles of radiation safety, all on one, clean diagram (click to enlarge):

The End! 

Despite the time and effort spent socially (politically?) promoting an obscured view of this science (or so it seems), there is nothing more mysterious about radiation than what you see here.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, and remember:  We have nothing to fear but fear itself!

Semper Exploro!

The Antimatter Plot Thickens…

I realize it’s been egregiously silent here at the Astrowright blog for some time.  Apparently, I am not immune to the same disappointing (as a reader) dry spells experienced in/by so many other blogs I’ve followed during the years. 

(With grad school, teaching at CSN, my day-job working for DOE, a side-business or two in flux, moonlighting the occasional and surreal TV project, and with a 1&1/2-year-old at home – let’s just say I’ve come to terms with the reality that I’m not a juggling Jedi yet.)

Excuses aside, however, I wanted to take a moment to relay a devastatingly exciting potential discovery, which itself was prompted by a pleasant surprise…

CERN’s ALPHA experiment – our Anti-Virgil into Dante’s Antimatter Inferno? (Credit: CERN)

Antimatter in Focus

As reported on SpaceRef.com and NASAWatch.com, which prominently featured the antimatter symbol I created a couple of years back (i.e., the pleasant surprise – thanks, Keith!), we may be one giant leap closer to figuring out antimatter – and with it, peer a little farther into the mysterious underpinnings of the Fundamental Forces of Nature.

In an article titled, “Does Antimatter Fall Up or Down?” Keith Cowing reports that researchers at CERN’s Alpha Experiment recently published in Nature Communications their tantalizing antimatter research progress.  

Specifically, these CERN specialists have identified a process for finally determining whether or not gravity acts upon antimatter the same way it does upon “ordinary” matter, even if they haven’t answered the question quite yet.  (See Keith’s article for more details on their experiment, what it means, and where it’s going.)

Down the Anti-Rabbit Hole

So, why do we or should we care about figuring out what antimatter really is and how the universe treats it?  Well, quite simply, it has the possibility of providing new solutions to many current problems in physics. 

Dark Energy, Dark Matter, and questions about early Cosmic Inflation all essentially deal with versions of the same issue: There are apparent problems with the amount of force we see in the universe versus how much we should expect. 

Perhaps a shift in our understanding of fundamental forces, like gravity, will shed new light.

This is to say nothing of the mystery concerning why the universe appears to be all matter and generally no antimatter.  According to physics as we understand it, there’s no reason for the bias.  (Why not areas of high concentrations of antimatter and others of normal matter?)

Why did matter win?

And to make matters yet more interesting, the late, great Dr. Richard Feynman (and others) have described antimatter as being inditinguishable from (or perhaps actually being!) ordinary matter moving backwards through time.  While few physicists believe this is actually the case, it certainly bends neurons considering that it remains a physical possibility*.

(*I should note that this idea of antiparticles moving “backwards” in time, in order to be true, requires a reconstruction of what we mean by “time.”  This is because antiparticles don’t blip out of existence as they move to the “past” with respect to us as we, presumably, continue to move into the “future.”  Instead, we remain with the antiparticles in the same measurable “now” in the universe…)

Antimatter – A Guiding Star

Keep an eye on this one, folks.  It could very well be that the study of antimatter provides us the wedge we need to evolve beyond peering through the keyhole at the universe and instead throw open the door.

Optimistic?  Admittedly. 

However, we’re due for our big 21st Century paradigm shift in the sciences.  What with the recent 100 Year Starship Symposium hinting at what the future has to offer us (along with humanity’s expanding view of our galactic neighborhood and our desire to get out there and engage it), it’s high time we get on inventing that superluminal propulsion system to Alpha Centauri, already.

I’m not getting any younger.

Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.

“Space Travel is all we do!  Rocket parking on the roof…”

Just a note today on an outfit that has been one of my favorite internet stopping points for quite a while now.  It’s Seattle’s Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co., a refreshingly serious tongue-in-cheek astronaut supply shop whose proceeds go to 826 Seattle, a related non-profit youth writing center.

Exterior view. (Credit: Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.)

Providing local coordinates, environmental conditions, and advertising parking on the roof for savvy space travelers, the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. offers all manner of slick astronaut can’t-leave-home-without-it items.  These include thermal garments (shirts and hoodies,) award-winning galactic maps, (which I’m particularly fond of,) and a line of products from Europa Scientific, including Black Hole Starter Kits and bottled Uncertainty – handy for increasing your chances of escape from an unfriendly scenario.

In all, considering what few vendors there are for space travel supplies these days, the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. is an unassailably cool breath of fresh air.  Stop in, hang up your space helmet, and have a look.

And, above all, remember Greenwood’s slogan:

Experienced Space Travelers Agree: A Lack of Preparation is a Prescription for Mishaps.

Hawking promotes forward-only Time Travel

Eminent physicist and cosmologist Dr. Stephen Hawking has recently come out to say that he no longer fears ridicule and endorses the possibility of time travel.  While this might seem like a revelation, his actual endorsement is not.  Let me explain.

Einstein’s Special Relativity has shown for nearly the last century that objects appear to move through time more slowly the faster they move through space.  This phenomenon has been measured, though the effect is so slight in everyday experience that physicists ignore it.  However, if astronauts were to travel in a spaceship very close to the speed of light, (a version of the Twin Paradox,) the effect would be very pronounced (see: Time Dilation), and our intrepid explorers would zoom forward in time – in a few years time spent away for the astronauts, the Earth and everyone on it will have aged centuries.

This is the only sort of time travel Dr. Hawking has come out to endorse – forward time travel as a result of moving quickly – which, as I mentioned above, has been a known effect for nearly a hundred years.  Backward time travel in Dr. Hawking’s view is still impossible because it would allow violations of causality, which bother him.  (Endorsing that kind of time travel would have truly been a revelation!)

So, nothing new here.  However, anything that gets the physics of Relativity and time travel into public media is okay in my book!

…and being that Dr. Hawking is so clever, maybe that was his intent all along.