| water pollutants, radioactive | Pollutants, present in water or bodies of water, which exhibit radioactivity. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| air pollution, indoor | The contamination of indoor air. (12 Dec 1998) |
| pollution | <ecology> The changing of a natural environment, either by natural or artificial means, so that the environment becomes harmful to the living things normally found in it. most often this refers to the input of toxic chemicals into the environment. (09 Oct 1997) |
| tobacco smoke pollution | Contamination of the air by tobacco smoke. (12 Dec 1998) |
| air pollutants, radioactive | Pollutants, present in air, which exhibit radioactivity. (12 Dec 1998) |
| radioactive | Giving off radiation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| radioactive atom | <chemistry, physics> An atom with an unstable nucleus, which emits particulate or electromagnetic radiation (radioactive emission) to achieve greater stability. See: radionuclide, half-life, Becquerel. (05 Mar 2000) |
| radioactive constant | <physics, radiobiology> The fraction of the amount of a radionuclide that undergoes transition per unit time. Formally: Lamda=dP/dt Where dP is the probability of a given nucleus undergoing spontaneous nuclear transition in the time interval dt. (16 Dec 1997) |
| radioactive contamination | <radiobiology> Radioactive substance dispersed in material or places where it is undesirable. (16 Dec 1997) |
| radioactive cow | Colloquialism for radionuclide generator. See: cow. (05 Mar 2000) |
| radioactive decay | <physics> The process by which a spontaneous change in nuclear state takes place. This process is accompanied by the emission of energy in various specific combinations of electromagnetic and corpuscular radiation and neutrinos. (16 Dec 1997) |
| radioactive equilibrium | <radiobiology> That condition in which the activities of the members of a radioactive chain decrease exponentially in time with the half-life of the chain precursor. Such radioactive equilibrium is only possible when the half-life of the precursor is longer than that of any other chain member. If the precursor half-life is so long that the change in the precursor population during the period of interest can be ignored, all the activities become sensibly equal and the equilibrium is said to be secular, otherwise it is said to be transient. (16 Dec 1997) |
| radioactive fallout | The material that descends to the earth or water well beyond the site of a surface or subsurface nuclear explosion. (12 Dec 1998) |
| radioactive iodide uptake test | A test of thyroid function in which 131I-iodide is given orally; after 24 hours, the amount present in the thyroid gland is measured and compared with normal values. Synonym: radioactive iodide uptake test, RAI test. (05 Mar 2000) |
| radioactive iodine | Iodine that gives off radiation. See radioiodine. (12 Dec 1998) |