Types of Radiation
Radiation occurs when the ratio between neutrons and protons in the nucleus is imbalanced, leading to the emission of particles and/or energy.
What is the belt of stability?
This type of nuclear reaction is a spontaneous change of an atom of one element into a different element, also called radioactive decay.
What is natural transmutation?
A radioactive atom used in scans to watch where specific atoms go in the body or to read on an MRI or X-ray.
What is a Tracer?
The definition of a half-life.
What is the time it takes for half of the radioactive substance to decay?
The 3 types of radioactive decay.
What is alpha, beta, and gamma?
These particles have the largest mass and the weakest penetrating power, stopped by a sheet of paper.
What are alpha particles? (α or 24He)
The nuclear reaction where a large nucleus is split into middleweight nuclei and neutrons.
What is fission?
The radioisotope, Iodine-131, is used to diagnose and treat disorders of this gland in the neck.
What is the thyroid gland?
The amount of Carbon-14 remaining after 5 half lives have passed.
What is 3.25%?
The isotope used in carbon dating.
This form of radiation is only nuclear energy, has no mass, and the strongest penetrating power, requiring a few inches of lead to stop it.
What is gamma radiation? (γ)
Light nuclei combine to form heavier ones in this type of reaction, which is how the elements in stars were made.
What is fusion?
This radioisotope, Uranium-238, is used to date geological formations or rocks, like mountain ranges.
What is Uranium-238? (U-238 to Pb-206 dating).
The number of half lives required to reduce an original sample of Pm-147 to 12.5% of its original amount.
What is 3 Half Lives?
The two subjects Marie Currie won a Nobel Prize for.
What is chemistry and physics?
A positron is the same as a beta negative particle but possesses this type of charge
What is a positive charge? (Positron: +10β; Beta Negative: −10β).
This type of reaction happens in a lab when a scientist bombards a nucleus with a high-energy particle.
What is artificial transmutation?
This process uses the ratio of Carbon-14 to Carbon-12 to estimate how long ago a once-living organism died.
What is radioactive dating or carbon-14 dating?
If the half life of Thorium-234 is 24.10 days, this is the total time that must elapse for 6.25% of the original sample to remain.
What is 96.4 days? (Calculation: 100%→50%→25%→12.5%→6.25%. This is 4 half-lives. 4×24.10 days=96.4 days).
An effect of an exposure to ionizing radiation.
What is cancer, death, cellular dysfunction?
The beta particle has a very small mass and a charge of 1, allowing it to travel through thin layers of this material.
What is aluminum?
Einstein's equation, which loosely defines nuclear reactions, essentially states that matter and energy are this and can change between forms.
What are interchangeable (or equivalent)? (This refers to E=mc2).
The radioisotope, Americium-241, is used in these life-saving devices by releasing alpha particles that, when disrupted by smoke, set off an alarm.
What are smoke detectors?
For a 1.20-gram sample of Carbon-14, this is the mass remaining after 22,920 years, given that the half-life of Carbon-14 is approximately 5,730 years.
What is 0.075 grams? (Calculation: 22,920 years/5,730 years/half-life=4 half-lives. Mass remaining: 1.20 g→0.60 g→0.30 g→0.15 g→0.075 g).
This radioisotope, which emits gamma rays and has a mass number of 60, is commonly used in radiation therapy to target and destroy cancerous tumors.
What is Cobalt-60 (Co−60)?