Although some differences have been observed, the transport behavior of radioactive aerosol particles has often been assumed to be analogous to the behavior of nonradioactive aerosols in dispersion models. However, radioactive particles can become electrostatically charged as a result of the decay process. Theories have been proposed to describe this self-charging phenomenon, which may have a significant effect on how these particles interact with one another and with charged surfaces in the environment. In this study, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to quantify surface forces between a particle and a planar surface and to compare measurements with and without the involvement of radioactivity. The main objective of this work is to assess directly the effects of radioactivity on the surface interactions of radioactive aerosols via the measurement of the adhesion force. The adhesion force …