When is radon produced

It is radon that most readily occurs in the environment. Atmospheric releases of radon results in the formation of decay products that are radioisotopes of heavy metals polonium, lead, bismuth and rapidly attach to other airborne materials such as dust and other materials facilitating inhalation.

USE: Radon has been used in some spas for presumed medical effects. In addition, radon is used to initiate and influence chemical reactions and as a surface label in the study of surface reactions. It has been obtained by pumping the gasses off of a solution of a radium salt, sparking the gas mixture to combine the hydrogen and oxygen, removing the water and carbon dioxide by adsorption, and freezing out the radon.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas and comes from the natural breakdown radioactive decay of uranium. It is usually found in igneous rock and soil, but in some cases, well water may also be a source of radon. Radon in the ground, groundwater, or building materials enters working and living spaces and disintegrates into its decay products.

Although high concentrations of radon in groundwater may contribute to radon exposure through ingestion, the inhalation of radon released from water is usually more important. Exhalation of radon from ordinary rock and soils and from radon-rich water can cause significant radon concentrations in tunnels, power stations, caves, public baths, and spas.

The average radon concentrations in houses are generally much lower than the average radon concentrations in underground ore mines. Workers are exposed to radon in several occupations.

A pCi is a measure of the rate of radioactive decay of radon. One pCi is one trillionth of a Curie, 0. Some devices measure radiation from radon decay products, rather than radiation coming directly from radon. Measurements from these devices are often expressed as WL. A level of 0. If the actual equilibrium ratio is determined which is rare , it should be stated. The 50 percent ratio is typical of the home environment, but any indoor environment may have a different and varying relationship between radon and its decay products.

Technically speaking, 1 WL represents any combination of short-lived radon decay products in one liter of air that will result in the ultimate emission of 1. Jump to navigation. Over time, these radioactive particles increase the risk of lung cancer. It may take years before health problems appear.

People who smoke and are exposed to radon are at a greater risk of developing lung cancer. The chances of getting lung cancer are higher if your home has elevated radon levels and you smoke or burn fuels that increase indoor particles. The toolkit contains customizable fact sheets, infographics, newsletter articles, and social media posts.

View large image and text description. Having your home tested is the only effective way to determine whether you and your family are exposed to high levels of radon. Steps you can take to measure and reduce radon levels include:. Biological role. Radon has no known biological role. It is, however, thought that it may have had a significant role in evolution. Natural abundance. Radon is produced naturally from the decay of the isotope radium, which is found in rocks.

It was first discovered as a radioactive gas produced from radium as it decayed. Help text not available for this section currently. Elements and Periodic Table History. In , Ernest Rutherford and Robert B.

Owens detected a radioactive gas being released by thorium. That same year, Pierre and Marie Curie detected a radioactive gas emanating from radium. In, Friedrich Ernst Dorn at Halle, Germany, noted that a gas was accumulating inside ampoules of radium.

They were observing radon. That from radium was the longer-lived isotope radon which has a half-life 3. The radon that Rutherford detected was radon with a half-life of 56 seconds.

In , Rutherford devoted himself to investigating the new gas and showed that it was possible to condense it to a liquid. In , William Ramsay and Robert Whytlaw-Gray at University College, London, collected enough radon to determine its properties and reported that it was the heaviest gas known. Atomic data. Glossary Common oxidation states The oxidation state of an atom is a measure of the degree of oxidation of an atom.

Oxidation states and isotopes. Glossary Data for this section been provided by the British Geological Survey. Relative supply risk An integrated supply risk index from 1 very low risk to 10 very high risk.

Recycling rate The percentage of a commodity which is recycled. Substitutability The availability of suitable substitutes for a given commodity.

Reserve distribution The percentage of the world reserves located in the country with the largest reserves.

Political stability of top producer A percentile rank for the political stability of the top producing country, derived from World Bank governance indicators. Political stability of top reserve holder A percentile rank for the political stability of the country with the largest reserves, derived from World Bank governance indicators.

Supply risk. Relative supply risk Unknown Crustal abundance ppm 0. Young's modulus A measure of the stiffness of a substance. Shear modulus A measure of how difficult it is to deform a material. Bulk modulus A measure of how difficult it is to compress a substance. Vapour pressure A measure of the propensity of a substance to evaporate.

Pressure and temperature data — advanced. Listen to Radon Podcast Transcript :. You're listening to Chemistry in its element brought to you by Chemistry World , the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The first reports of problems associated with radon gas in domestic buildings was in the United States in , when an employee at a nuclear power plant began setting off the radiation detector alarms on his way into work.

The problem was eventually traced to his home, where the level of radon gas in his basement was found to be abnormally high. Radon emanates directly from the ground all over the world but especially in regions with high levels of granite or shale in the soil. Uranium, a relatively common constituent of soils, decays to form radium, which in turn decays to produce radon. In fact for most UK residents, naturally occurring radon accounts for half of their annual radiation dosage.

However it only really becomes problematic when high levels are produced in confined spaces, for example the ground floor of buildings without adequate ventilation. Some homes in Cornwall, where the ground has high granite content, were found to contain worrying levels of radon. However forced ventilation methods largely remove the problem. Radon is the product of the decay of other unstable, radioactive elements such as radium, thorium and actinium.

The colourless, odourless, tasteless gas can be isolated from these sources but soon decays as it has no stable isotopes. The early pioneers in the study of radioactivity, the Curies, had noted that radium appeared to make the surrounding air radioactive.

The discovery of radon is credited to a German physicist Friedrich Ernst Dorn, who traced this observed radioactivity to a gas which was given off by radium - a gas which he called 'radium emanation'. Similar 'emanations' were isolated from other elements - for example thorium, and eventually the gas was identified as the heaviest of the noble gases, named radon, and given its rightful place in the periodic table.

Not much research has been carried out on radon, due to its radioactivity, but it is largely un-reactive with few known compounds. Like the other noble gases it has been found to form compounds with fluorine. It is the densest known gas, another reason why it tends to linger in low-lying confined spaces.

Below its boiling point it forms a colourless liquid and then at lower temperatures an orange-red solid which glows eerily due to the intense radiation it produces.

Radon has a fairly short half-life of only a few days so rapidly decays. Why then should we worry about radon levels in our homes? The problem is, when breathed in, it can decay to form other, longer-lasting, solid radioactive species, which can coat the lungs, leading to continual exposure. These so-called 'radon daughters' include polonium, polonium and lead - not family members you'd wish to spend a lot of time with.

Prolonged radon exposure is believed to be the second most frequent cause of lung cancer after smoking.