Concept:Artificial (induced) radioactivity occurs when humanity intentionally creates radioactive isotopes that do not naturally exist on Earth.
Solution:- To create a new radioactive element, you must start with a naturally available, stable element as the target material.
- You then fire high energy particles (like protons, neutrons, or alpha particles from a particle accelerator or reactor) into the stable nucleus.
- The extreme kinetic energy overcomes nuclear repulsive forces, forcing the nucleus to absorb the particle, changing its proton/neutron ratio, and rendering it unstable (radioactive).
Why other options are incorrect:Bombarding an already unstable element is redundant for generating entirely new artificial isotopes from scratch. Low energy particles usually bounce off the target due to severe Coulombic repulsion.
Quality & Fidelity Assurance:
Every question on BeambePrep is rigorously curated against the official PMDC syllabus with zero filler, zero out-of-syllabus content, and zero typos. When an authentic past paper originally contained a historical mistake or ambiguity from the examining board (such as UHS or NUMS), BeambePrep faithfully reflects the original paper while detailing the nuance and scientific consensus in the autopsy above.