Lesson 24 – Radioactive elements
In this lesson, students learn that some element isotopes are unstable and break down into other elements. This decay is accompanied by the release of several kinds of radiation. While radiation can be a destructive force on Earth’s living things, it is also partially responsible for genetic mutations, the cause of all of life’s diversity. In the cores of stars like our sun, atomic fusion and radioactive decay produce antimatter and photons; radioactive elements give birth to starlight.