Naturally radioactive elements emit energy without absorbing it first. Fluorescence for example – the atom absorbs a photon before emitting another photon. You have to “charge it up” or mix chemicals together before light comes out. With radioactive materials, they emit energy on their own, sometimes in the form of light, but sometimes they emit other particles. Let me explain.


Chemical reactions usually deal with only electron or atom exchanges. Nuclear reactions deal with changes inside the nucleus of an atom.
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