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What is different about two different isotopes?
What fundamental forces determine the stability
of the nucleus?
Compare the size of the nucleus to the size of the atom.
How are the sizes of such small things measured?
What is radioactivity and why does it happen?
Describe the three most common types of radioactivity.
Which of the types of radioactivity is most dangerous
outside your body? ... inside your body?
How do the energies involved in radioactivity compare
with those in atomic spectra, visible light, etc.?
What is meant by radioactive half-life? Given an
amount of a radioactive substance, how much will
remain after three half-lives?
What effect will raising the temperature of a radioactive
substance have on its half-life? What effect will
combining it into a chemical compound have? If a
radioactive sample is vaporized, will that decrease
its half-life?
How can you tell if an amount of radiation is a health
hazard?
What kind of objects may be dated by carbon dating?
About what maximum age would you expect to be
able to determine with carbon dating?
What do you mean by "clocks in the rocks"? What
sources of uncertainties are inherent within
radioactive dating techniques?
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