RADIOACTIVITY

Radioactivity is the process by which radioactive elements radiate energy within themselves
without excitation from outside.

 Examples of radioactive elements include uranium, radium , polonioum and thorioum.

 There are mainly three types of radiation in which radioactive elements are emitted,
alpha particle( α) beta particle (β) and gamma particle (γ)

Characteristics of alpha, gamma and beta particles

Alpha particles (α)

 They are appear like an atom of helium in nature
 They are positively charged
 They have strong ionizing effect
 They have very weak penetration power as the can be stopped/absorbed by a sheet of
paper
 Their deflection by magnetic field and electric field is small
Beta particles (β)
 They are electrons in nature
 They are negatively charged
 They have weak ionizing effect
 They have weak penetration power as they can be stopped/stopped by a few mm of
aluminium
 Their deflection by magnetic field and electric field is large
Gamma particles (γ)
 They are electromagnetic waves in nature
 The have no charge (neutral)
 They have very weak ionizing effect
 They have strong penetration power as they can be stopped by stopped by 5cm of lead
 They are neither deflected by magnetic field nor electric field

THE ZULU ENCYCLOPEDIA

 RADIOACTIVE DECAY

The emission of alpha beta or gamma particles is called radioactive decay. This occurs when an
a nucleus of an atom gain extra energy and becomes unstable

Alpha decay

When an atom decays by emission of alpha particle its mass number decreases by 4 and its
atomic number by decreases by 2

𝑨 𝑨−𝟒 𝟒
𝒁𝑿 𝒛−𝟐𝒀 + 𝟐𝑯𝒆

𝟐𝟐𝟔 𝟐𝟐𝟐 𝟒
𝟖𝟖𝑹𝒂 𝟖𝟔𝒀 + 𝟐𝑯𝒆

Beta decay

When an atom decays by beta emission its mass number remains unchanged but instead its
atomic number increases by 1

𝑨 𝑨 𝟎
𝒁𝑿 𝒛+𝟏𝒀 + −𝟏𝒆

𝟐𝟏𝟖 𝟐𝟏𝟖 𝟎
𝟖𝟒𝑷𝒐 𝟖𝟓𝒀 + −𝟏𝒆

Half life

This is defined as the time taken for half of the unstable nuclei to decay

Two formulas can be used in the calculation of half

THE ZULU ENCYCLOPEDIA

 1 𝑇
1. N=N₀ [ 2 ] 𝑡

𝑁₀
2. [ 𝑁 ]𝑇 = 2𝑡
Where N₀ is the initial mass
N is the undecayed mass
T is the half life
t is the time taken

Example

Study the decay curve below of radium

1000g

500g

250g

5 10 (time) years

a) What is the half-life of radium?

b) How many grams of radium remained after 15 years
c) If 125g of radium remained, how long does it take

Nuclear fission

Nuclear fission is the process by which the nucleus of a heavy atom is split into two smaller
daughter nuclei when hit by a slow moving neutron.

 Nuclear fission releases a great deal of energy which can be calculated using Einstein’s
equation E=mc2 where m is the mass and c is the speed of light= 3x108

THE ZULU ENCYCLOPEDIA

 Nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion is a process in which the nuclei of light elements fuse together to form a heavy
nucleus

 Nuclear fusion requires high temperatures to take place; the energy we receive from
the sun is from nuclear fusion.
Background radiation

Human beings are exposed to radiation all the time in their environment without even knowing
it. This is known as background radiation. Background radiation is in two types natural and
artificial background radiation.

 Examples of natural background radiations include, cosmic rays from the sun,
radioactive e rocks such as uranium thorium and radon. The food eaten also have some
traces of carbon 14 including the air humans breath. These are introduced in the body
when they are eaten via the food chain when meat or milk from grazing animals are
consumed
 Examples of artificial radiations include x-rays and radiotherapy from hospitals, nuclear
power stations where radioactive elements are used to generate electricity and nuclear
weapons.
Uses of radiation
 used in the treatment of cancer.
Carbon 14 is mainly used to perfom this task known as as radiotherapy
 Used in sterilization.
Sterilization involves food preservation to parasites , insects and bacteria and insects.
This helps prolong shelf life of foods. Gamma rays are used in this case
 Used in leak detection.
Leaks in underground pipe lines can be detected by injection of radioactive isotope
 Used in radio carbon dating.
This a method used by scientist to determine how long a substance has lived such as
bones, wood paper and clothes
 Used for generation of electrical power.
Nuclear fission is used to generate electricity as an alternative source of energy.
Radioactive elements such as uranium, plutonium and thorium are used
 Used in fire alarms
Radioactive isotopes are used in creating smoke detectors which trigger fire alarms

THE ZULU ENCYCLOPEDIA

 EFFECTS OF RADIATION
 Can cause damage to living cells of the body hence causing deformities in body
structures
 Can cause genetic changes in living cells
 Can cause cancer to a large extent
 Can cause damage to the environment such as the atmosphere, land and vegetation

Safety precautions when handling and storing radioactive substance

In order to prevent the effects/ dangers of radiation the following precautions must be taken

 Use protective materials such as gloves, goggles and overalls when handling radioactive
substances
 Install lead shield in nuclear plants and rooms where radioactive substances are stored
 Radioactive substances should be stored in lead boxes to avoid leakages
 Avoid direct contact and unnecessary exposure to radioactive elements
 Radiation symbols and stickers must be displayed at all place where radioactive
substances are used

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

1. Strontium-90 emits a beta particle and has a half life of 30 years

a) Write the decay equation for alpha emission
b) What happens to the mass of an atom when it emits a beta particle
c) A sample of strontium-90 gives a reading of 80 counts per second on a radiation
detector. Calculate how long it will take for the count rate to drop to 20 counts
per second
2. In an experiment to determine the half-life of radon-220( 220 86Rn) the following results
were obtained after allowing for the background count

Time/s 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Count rate 30 26 23 21 18 16 14 12

a) By plotting the graph of count rate (vertically) against time (horizontally) determine the
half-life of radon. Show clearly on the graph how you obtained the answer

THE ZULU ENCYCLOPEDIA

 220
b) 86𝑅𝑛emits an alpha particle. When it does so it becomes an isotope of an element
polonium (Po). Write the equation to represent this change
3. The diagram below shows how a radioactive substance y disintegrates with time
emitting three radiations

Time t (hours) Mass (g)

0 15
4 7.5
8 3.75
12 1.875

I.Name the tree radiation emitted by Y

II.what was the mass of Y after 20 hours
III.determine the half- life of Y
IV. give one health hazard of a radioactive substance and one precaution one must
take when handling radioactive substances
4. The diagram below shows a stream of alpha , beta and gamma rays passes through a
uniform electric field represented by tracks A,B and C

X _
_
X _
X _
X _
X _
X _
X
a) Identify the tracks marked A, B and C representing the radiations
b) What is the charge of the radiations represented by B
c) Thorium (246
83𝑇ℎ) nucleus undergoes alpha decay by emitting one particle to
form a daughter nucleus whose symbol is Rn. Write the complete equation that
represents the decay of thorium

THE ZULU ENCYCLOPEDIA

5. When the a suitable counter was placed near a radioactive source of beta particle, the
following rates of the emission were obtained at the time shown below

Time (minutes) 0 5 10 15 20
Count rate (seconds) 295 158 86 47 25

i. Plot a graph of count (rate)x-axis against time (y-axis)

ii. Determine the half- life of the source. Show clearly how you obtain this
c) A radioactive isotope radon-220 ( 220 86𝑅𝑛 ) decays by emission of an alpha particle, the
half -life of this isotope is 1 minute. What mass of rado-220 will decay to a mass of 1.5g
in a time of 5 minutes?
d) In some industrial situation, leaks in lead pipes found by pumping a solution of
radioactive isotope through the pipe
i. Give one advantage and one disadvantage of using a α- source and γ- emitters in
this task respectively
ii. What kind of an isotope in terms of half- life would you use for the task
mentioned above? ( state whether the isotope should have a half- life , one year,
one month, one week, one day or 1 minute)

THE ZULU ENCYCLOPEDIA