Environmental Radiation

Environmental radiation permeates space, air soil, and water around us. It has been naturally present since the birth of Earth about 4.65 billion years ago in a massive supernova explosion creating the heavy elements on earth and the other rocky planets Mars, Venus and Mercury. Consequently, life has evolved in the ashes and remnants of this explosion which were gravitationally grabbed in space by the sun into our solar system in an environment which has significant levels of ionizing radiation. The natural background radiation is low intensity radiation that is a part of our natural environment. We are continually being bombarded with neutrinos from the sun. Part of it is from constituents in the soil such as the common heavy metals of thorium and uranium and their daughter nuclides such as radium and radon. These are continuously transforming through the process of radioactive decay giving up emissions of alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Although not very abundant, they are widely spread and minerals containing them are practically everywhere. Radiation originates from outer space as cosmic radiation, the ground as terrestrial radiation such as radon, and even from within our own bodies like carbon and potassium. In the case of K in living matter, with a 1.28 billion years half life, it emits a beta particle and becomes a stable member of the calcium family of isotopes. For C in living matter, with a half life of 5730 years it emits a beta particle and becomes a stable member of the nitrogen family of isotopes: