The Naked Scientists Podcast cover image

Going Nuclear

The Naked Scientists Podcast

00:00

Are Early Radioactive Particles in the Clouds?

Early radioactive elements are very rare in the air, but there will be some. What's actually happening to them to create these intricate structures in the cloud? Well, you often get an unstable nucleus. So for example, if you got a nucleus which is too big to be stable, randomly, quite rarely, a small lump of that nucleus o maybe two protons, neutrons, helium nucleus and alf particle,. These are both very positively charged. They repel each other very strongly. And so this nucleus will fly off with a huge amount of energy, creating an alf particle, which can do an awful damage when it hits things. That's what we're seeing with the thicker

Play episode from 43:27
Transcript

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app