Page 6 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Inside the elements
Chemistry is concerned with the exchange or sharing of electrons
in the outside regions of an atom, rather than with what happens
in the core of an atom, in the nucleus. You could compare this
to a traffic planner who is concerned only with the way vehicles move, not with how their engines work.
However, when working with radioactive elements, scientists, and especially physicists, need to understand the nature of the particles that make up the atoms, much as a vehicle-maker
needs to know how engines work.
Radioactive elements vary greatly. All are quite rare; most are metals. But radioactive isotopes cannot
be used in the same way as
other metals – to make new materials. Indeed, if used this way they could make rather dangerous materials. Rather, radioactive elements are used
for their radioactive properties alone.
Unstable nucleus
 A radioactive atom, showing
a particle being emitted from the nucleus. The other diagrams in this book are representations of the nucleus and not the whole atom.
Particle emitted by the nucleus
Electrons orbit the nucleus
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