CLINICAL MEDICINE

Detailed explanation-1: -Why some elements are radioactive (unstable). When the atoms of an element have extra neutrons or protons it creates extra energy in the nucleus and causes the atom to become unbalanced or unstable.

Detailed explanation-2: -Radioactive nuclei are nuclei that are unstable and that decay by emitting energetic particles such as photons, electrons, neutrinos, protons, neutrons, or alphas (two protons and two neutrons bound together). Some of these particles are known as ionizing particles.

Detailed explanation-3: -These atoms are said to be ‘unstable’ or ‘radioactive’. An unstable atom has excess internal energy, with the result that the nucleus can undergo a spontaneous change towards a more stable form. This is called ‘radioactive decay’.

Detailed explanation-4: -Radioactive atoms are unstable; that is, they have too much energy. When radioactive atoms spon-taneously release their extra energy, they are said to decay. All radioactive atoms decay eventually, though they do not all decay at the same rate.

Detailed explanation-5: -Q: What makes the nucleus of a radioisotope unstable? A: The nucleus may be unstable because it has too many protons or an unstable ratio of protons to neutrons. For a nucleus with a small number of protons to be stable, the ratio of protons to neutrons should be 1:1.