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radioactivity

UK/ˌreɪdɪəʊakˈtɪvɪti/US/ˌreɪdɪəʊakˈtɪvɪti/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,108 of 15,258neutral

Radioactivity is the property of unstable atomic nuclei that makes them decay. Measure the radioactivity.

It is entirely natural, since rocks, bananas and the human body are all slightly radioactive. Radioactivity was discovered by accident in 1896 when photographic plates fogged in a drawer.

Kjerish · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of radioactivity

  1. 1nounradioactivityThe property of unstable atomic nuclei that makes them decay and throw off particles and rays.B2+

    “The radioactivity in the granite was higher than anywhere else in the county.”

radioactivity is a property.

Where it comes from

Radioactive plus -ity, from radio-, meaning ray, plus activity.

  1. French

    radioactif

  2. English

    radioactive

  3. English, today

    radioactivity

From radioactive + -ity or radio- + activity. radioactive Borrowed from French radioactif. Coined by Pierre Curie and Marie Curie in 1898 as French radioactif, equivalent to English radio + active.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

radioactivity in the wild

  • The discovery of artificial radioactivity enabled the development of nuclear weapons based on plutonium-239, including the Fat Man atomic bomb.

    Synthetic radioisotope

  • Antoine Henri Becquerel was a French experimental physicist who shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Marie and Pierre Curie for his discovery of radioactivity.

    Henri Becquerel

  • The curie (symbol Ci) is a non-SI unit of radioactivity originally defined in 1910.

    Curie (unit)

  • The becquerel (; symbol: Bq) is the unit of radioactivity in the International System of Units (SI).

    Becquerel

  • The becquerel is named after Henri Becquerel, who shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre and Marie Curie in 1903 for their work in discovering radioactivity.

    Becquerel

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the radioactif family

radioactiveradioactivity

radioactivity — used about once every 4,196 pages · #9,108 · point at the bar for the others

  • radio
  • radiology