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Radon concentration can differ widely from place to place. In the open air, it ranges from 1 to 100 Bq/m 3, even less (0.1 Bq/m 3) above the ocean. In caves or ventilated mines, or poorly ventilated houses, its concentration climbs to 20–2,000 Bq/m 3. [79] Radon concentration can be much higher in mining contexts.
There are 39 known isotopes of radon (86 Rn), from 193 Rn to 231 Rn; all are radioactive.The most stable isotope is 222 Rn with a half-life of 3.8235 days, which decays into 218 Po
Radon-222 (222 Rn, Rn-222, historically radium emanation or radon) is the most stable isotope of radon, with a half-life of approximately 3.8 days. It is transient in the decay chain of primordial uranium-238 and is the immediate decay product of radium-226 .
Radon is responsible for the majority of public exposure to ionizing radiation. It is often the single largest contributor to an individual's background radiation dose, and is the most variable from location to location. Radon gas from natural sources can accumulate in buildings, especially in confined areas such as attics and basements.
Radon can be found in some spring waters and hot springs. [7] The towns of Misasa, Japan, and Bad Kreuznach, Germany boast radium-rich springs which emit radon, as does Radium Springs, New Mexico. Radon exhausts naturally from the ground, particularly in certain regions, especially but not only regions with granitic soils. However, not all ...
The gamma spectrum shows prominent peaks at 609, 1120, and 1764 keV, belonging to bismuth-214, a radon decay product. The atmospheric background varies greatly with wind direction and meteorological conditions. Radon also can be released from the ground in bursts and then form "radon clouds" capable of traveling tens of kilometers. [7]
Radon compounds are chemical compounds formed by the element radon (Rn). Radon is a noble gas, i.e. a zero-valence element, and is chemically not very reactive. The 3.8-day half-life of radon-222 makes it useful in physical sciences as a natural tracer. Because radon is a gas under normal circumstances, and its decay-chain parents are not, it ...
The decay of radon-222 was once reported to exhibit large 4% peak-to-peak seasonal variations (see plot), [50] which were proposed to be related to either solar flare activity or the distance from the Sun, but detailed analysis of the experiment's design flaws, along with comparisons to other, much more stringent and systematically controlled ...