PHYSICS FORM 5: RADIOACTIVITY

UDERSTANDING THE USES OF RADIOACTIVITY

Understanding The Uses Of Radioactivity

Radioactivity is the spontaneous disintegration of an unstable nucleus into a more stable nucleus with the emission of energetic particles or photons. Tracers are a common application of radioisotopes. A tracer is a radioactive element whose pathway through which a chemical reaction can be followed. Tracers are commonly used in the medical field and in the study of plants and animals. Radioactive Iodine-131 can be used to study the function of the thyroid gland assisting in detecting disease. Nuclear reactors are devices that control fission reactions producing new substances from the fission product and energy. Recall our discussion earlier about the fission process in the making of a radioisotope. Nuclear power stations use uranium in fission reactions as a fuel to produce energy. Steam is generated by the heat released during the fission process. It is this steam that turns a turbine to produce electric energy.

Radioisotopes
Isotopes- atom of an element with same number of protons but different number of neutrons. It has same chemical properties because they have the same number of electrons. However, their physical properties are different because they have different number of neutrons. Some radioisotopes exist naturally but some exist artificially
A stable nucleus is bombarded by high speed alpha particles, neutrons or protons to produce artificial radioisotopes. The bombarding particles are trapped in the nucleus creating a radioactive isotope.

Fundamental of radioisotopes
Emits radioactive radiation Can kill cells Have different penetrating ability with materials of different thickness and densities Can cause cell mutation Can ionise molecules Its activity decrease with time Have the same chemical properties as non-radioactive isotopes of the same element.

Applications of Radioisotopes in Different Fields

Medicine Used in diagnosis of certain diseases.
Patients are given an intravenous injection of iodine-123 or iodine-131. A detector is placed near the thyroid to read its activity or function. Sodium-24 is injected into the bloodstream to detect the position of blood clots. Iron-59 is a suitable tracer to study the circulation of iron in the blood. Radioisotope cobalt-60 is used to destroy cancer cells in radiotherapy Sterilise medical equipments Caesium-137 is used to destroy cancerous tissue.

 Industries In the manufacturing of paper, plastics, clothes and metal sheets, the thickness of each material must be controlled
This is done by placing a radioactive source at one side of the material and a detector on other side Beta particles are used. The detector registers a higher count if the material is too thin and a lower count if it is too thick. Testing for leakage of underground pipes can be done by adding sodium-24 A source of gamma rays can be used to take Photographs of metals to reveal cracks Synthetic clothes tend to attract dust and dirt from the surrounding air when the clothes are electrostatically charged. Gamma rays kill germs that cause food to spoil quickly.

 Agriculture Pests can be killed using radioactive rays especially gamma rays. The population of pests can be controlled by exposing them to low dosage of gamma rays. These rays induce mutation in the pests which stops them from reproducing. Nitrogen-15 and phosphorus-32 can be used as tracers in the study of the effectiveness of fertilisers.
These radioisotopes are added to soil water After the plant absorbs the soil water, the radioisotopes can track the uptake of fertiliser from roots to leaves in a plant.

Radioactive radiation is also used to induce genetic mutation in a plant in order to produce a better strain which has a higher resistance against diseases.

 Archaeology In the field of archaeology, it is important to be able to determine the age of artefacts. The method usually used for this purpose is called carbon dating.
Cosmic radiations from outer space knock out neutrons from nuclei in the Earths upper atmosphere. The neutrons then collide with nitrogen nuclei to produce carbon-14 However when living organisms die, no more carbon-14 is taken in. The carbon-14 in a dead plant or animal falls as the carbon-14 disintegrates.

Measuring geological time:

During the formation of rocks, some radioisotopes such as uranium-238 are trapped. As the decay continues, the proportion of uranium-238 decreases slowly resulting in the equally slow growth of its product, lead-206. An estimate of the age of the rock can be inferred from the relative proportions of lead and uranium in the rock.

Q&A
1. Which of the following radioisotopes is used in smoke detectors? A sodium-24 B Americium-241 C Cobalt-60 D Phosphorus-32 2. Isotopes are nuclides with the same A number of neutrons B atomic number C nucleon number

 3. A piece of wood found in a cave of an archaeology site has a carbon-14 activity 25% of the activity from a live plant. Estimate the age of the wood. [Half-life of carbon-14 = 5730 years] A B C D 10600 years 11460 years 9870 years 11450 years

Answer: 100% 50% 25% Carbon-14 take 2 half-life to decay from 100% to 25%, hence the age of the wood = 2(5730) = 11460 years

THE END