Teo_Filin t1_jc9ovzp wrote
Reply to comment by mfb- in Radon is a monatomic gas, but its decay products are solids. After a decay, what happens to the individual atoms of the daughter elements? Do they stay suspended in the atmosphere or slowly rain out? by foodtower
So 7x mass nearly doesn't matter.
How far radon will go via diffusion until it decays in h.l. 3.8 days? Its products are to be bound faster, I suppose.
mfb- t1_jc9pgdr wrote
> How far radon will go via diffusion until it decays in h.l. 3.8 days?
Many meters (as rms). Random air currents are the dominant effect unless you have an extremely calm room.
The scale height for nitrogen and oxygen is ~8 km, something with 7 times the mass still has ~1 km, so in perfect equilibrium you would expect the concentration to change by ~0.2% over the height of a room. In practice you never achieve such a perfect equilibrium unless you completely seal the room, keep its temperature completely constant and wait for a very long time.
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