ABSTRACT
The presence of radon and its decay products is due to the
abundance in the earth of heavymetals-radioactive elements at the
end of the periodic table. One of them, uranium, undergoes a long
series of transformations to yield radium. The chain of radioactive
decay does continue further; however, nature dictates that the
member of the chain after radium, radon, is a radioactive noble gas.
Owing to its inert chemical properties, radon does not remain in the
earth or in water but enters the atmosphere. The links that follow
in the radioactive chain-isotopes of polonium, bismuth, and lead-
attach to aerosol particles to become radioactive aerosols or exist in
the unattached form in the air. Eventually, they may be deposited in
the lungs and cause irradiation to the lung tissue.
