
25
2
Physical Basis of Nuclear
Forensic Science
2.1 BACKGROUND
During the rst few years of the twentieth century, the discovery of radioactivity had
a
p
rofound
e
ffect
o
n
t
he
c
hemical
s
ciences.
T
he
d
iscipline
o
f
r
adiochemistry
w
as
d
eveloped
t
o
e
xplore
t
he
c
hanges
i
n
c
hemical
p
roperties
t
hat
a
re
c
onsequences
o
f
t
ransmutations
o
ccurring
i
n
r
adioactive
d
ecay
a
nd
t
o
e
xploit
t
hose
c
hanges
t
o
s
tudy
t
he
p
hysical
p
roperties
o
f
t
he
at
omic
n
ucleus.
T
he
p
rinciples
o
f
n
uclear
f
orensic
s
ci-
ence
are those of radiochemistry.
Chemistry
w
as
t
he
rst
b
ranch
o
f
s
cience
i
n
w
hich
t
he
c
oncept
o
f
t
he
at
om
a
chieved
i
mportance,
b
eginning
w
ith
D
alton
i
n
1
803
[
1],
e
ven