fallout, minute particles of radioactive material produced by nuclear explosions (see atomic bomb atomic bomb or A-bomb, weapon deriving its explosive force from the release of atomic energy through the fission (splitting) of heavy nuclei (see nuclear energy ). The first atomic bomb was produced at the Los Alamos, N.Mex.
..... Click the link for more information. ; hydrogen bomb neutron bomb, which would have a minimum trigger and a nonfissionable tamper; there would be blast effects and a hail of lethal neutrons but almost no radioactive fallout; this theoretically would cause minimal physical damage to buildings and equipment but kill most living things.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Chernobyl Chernobyl (chĭrnō`byēl), Ukr. Chornobyl, abandoned city, N Ukraine, near the Belarus border, on the Pripyat River.
..... Click the link for more information. ) or by discharge from nuclear-power or atomic installations and scattered throughout the earth's atmosphere by winds and convection currents. Heavier fallout particles tend to settle to earth around the explosion site and downwind from it soon after the explosion. Lighter particles may stay in the atmosphere for years. Radioactive decay products in fallout include strontium-90, potassium-40, carbon-14, and iodine-131. They may contaminate food supplies if taken up by plants and animals or contaminate water supplies by falling into streams. If they accumulate in the human body, they can form concentrated internal sources of dangerous radiation. Fallout may thus be a cause of leukemia leukemia (l
..... Click the link for more information. , bone cancer cancer, in medicine, common term for neoplasms, or tumors, that are malignant. Like benign tumors, malignant tumors do not respond to body mechanisms that limit cell growth.
..... Click the link for more information. , and other diseases. It can also cause genetic damage.

fallout

Descent of radioactive materials from the atmosphere to the earth. Radioactivity in the atmosphere may arise from natural causes such as cosmic rays as well as from nuclear explosions and atomic reactor operations. The explosion of nuclear weapons leads to three types of fallout: local, tropospheric, and stratospheric. The first, intense but relatively short-lived, occurs as larger radioactive particles are deposited near the site of the explosion. Tropospheric fallout occurs when the finer particles enter the troposphere, and it spreads over a larger area in the month after the explosion. Stratospheric fallout, made of fine particles in the stratosphere, may continue years after the explosion, and the distribution is nearly worldwide. Many different radioisotopes are formed during a nuclear explosion, but only long-lived isotopes (e.g., cesium-137, strontium-90) are deposited as stratospheric fallout.

fallout

1. the descent of solid material in the atmosphere onto the earth, esp of radioactive material following a nuclear explosion

2. any solid particles that so descend

fallout [′fȯl‚au̇t]

(electronics)

Failure of electronic components during burn-in.

(nucleonics)

The material that descends to the earth or water well beyond the site of a surface or subsurface nuclear explosion. Also known as atomic fallout; radioactive fallout.

fallout (redirected from radioactive dust)

fallout

fallout
(redirected from radioactive dust)