The idea of an atom arises from a simple question: is it possible to keep breaking a piece of matter into smaller and smaller pieces or do you eventually get to the smallest piece of matter that cannot be divided any further? It turns out that the breaking cannot go on forever and there is … Continue reading What are atoms?
What is radioactivity?
Radioactivity, in the context of the Edexcel (9-1) GCSE Physics course, refers to events that release energy when one atom changes into a different type of atom. The change can either be spontaneous (radioactive decay) or induced (the processes of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion). To understand how these changes can happen we need to … Continue reading What is radioactivity?
