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| What is Radon? | |||||||||||||
| Radon is a colorless, odorless gas. It is radioactive and very dangerous. One of the reasons it is so dangerous is because you don't know it's there until you experience side effects. By the time you experience side effects, it is too late. Radon is either inhaled or eaten. It can be found in some homes. When it is in the air, it attaches to dust or other particles in the air and is then inhaled. Once it reaches the lungs, it attaches to the walls of the lungs and begins to radiate the harmful chemicals to bronchi or other pulmonary tissues. Radon is also an element on the periodic table. It was also discovered in 1898 by the German scientist: Friedrich Ernst Dorn. It was first called niton from the latin word "nitens" meaning "shining". It was renamed radon in 1923. It is naturally occuring and soluble in water. It is also a noble gas. Because radon is only one atom, it can pass through things that compounds can't. |
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| ^Illustration of an atom of radon^ | |||||||||||||
| Radon is very common in the United States. Eight million homes have high levels of radon. Eight million is equivellant to one in every five homes. To give a brief idea of how many this is, I created an example: let's say our science class has twenty people. Of the twenty people in class, four of them have increased levels of radon in their homes. That might not seem like like so much, but four people AND their families is a lot, and it can be easily prevented, so it would be an awful shame. | |||||||||||||
| The name of the element is Radon. It's atomic mass average is 222, it's atomic number is 86. This means that it has 86 and one hundred and thrity six nuetrons. It's electron configuration, which is the way the elctrons are arranged in energy levels around the nucleus, is 2-8-18-32-18-8. It's abbreviation is Rn. It's melting point is 71* F and 96* C. When it cools, it takes on a yellowish color. It is orange-red at liquid air. It is in group eighteen and period six. It is a noble gas. | |||||||||||||
| >Picture of the element radon on the periodic table> |  |
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