Nuclear Transmutation Induced Changes in Nuclei

Accelerators have many applications, from producing radioisotopes used in medical applications to studying the fundamental nature of matter. Perhaps their 

One nucleus can be transmuted to another through bombardment with high-energy particles. Accelerators increase the kinetic energy of particles and are used to produce radioisotopes for medical use and transuranium elements. 

In 1986, an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear facility in the former Soviet Union released radioactivity that is estimated to have already caused thousands of cancer deaths. In the same year, isotopes used in medical treatment emitted radioactivity that prevented thousands of cancer deaths. In this section and the next, we examine the harmful and beneficial effects of radioactivity. 

The key to both of these outcomes is that nuclear changes cause chemical changes in surrounding matter. In other words, even though the nucleus of an atom undergoes a reaction with little or no involvement of the atom s electrons, the emissions from that reaction do affect the electrons of nearby atoms. 

Radioactive emissions interact with matter in two ways, depending on their energies  

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