Radioactivity

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What we are going to explain
 what is radioactivity?
 Discovery of radioactivity.
 Radiation and where does radiation comes from?
 Three types of radiation.
 Uses field of radiation.
 Effects of radiation.
 Radiation controls.
 Half life of radiation.
 Advantages and disadvantages.
Discovery of Radioactivity

• In 1896 Henri Becquerel put a sample

of uranium on a photographic plate.
The Uranium left an outline. He
hypothesized that the uranium was
emitting invisIIible rays.
• 2 years later, Marie and Pierre Curie
isolated radium from pitchblend.
 Radiation
Radiation: The process of emitting
energy in the form of waves or
particles.

Where does radiation come from?

Radiation is generally produced
when particles interact or decay.

A large contribution of the radiation

on earth is from the sun (solar) or
from radioactive isotopes of the
elements (terrestrial).

Radiation is going through you at

this very moment
Three types of radiation were known

1)Alpha particles ()

2)Beta particles ()

3)Gamma-rays ()
 Alpha particle

Alpha particle - these are fast moving helium atoms.
They have high energy, typically in the MeV range,
but due to their large mass, they are stopped by just
a few inches of air, or a piece of paper.
• 238 U → 42He + 23490Th
92

• The helium nucleus is the

alpha particle.
 Beta particle
• Beta particle - these are fast moving
electrons. They typically have energies in the
range of a few hundred keV to several MeV.
Since electrons are might lighter than helium
atoms, they are able to penetrate further,
through several feet of air, or several
millimeters of plastic or less of very light
metals.
•
• 23490 → 0-1e + 23491Pa
•
• The electron is the beta particle.
 Gamma particle

 Gamma particle - These are photons,

just like light, except of much higher
energy, typically from several keV to
several MeV. X-Rays and gamma rays are
really the same thing, the difference is
how they were produced. Depending on
their energy, they can be stopped by a
thin piece of aluminum foil, or they can
penetrate several inches of lead.
 Uses field of radiation
a. Cancer Treatment
b. Killing Microbes
c. Carbon Dating
d. Dating rocks
 Cancer treatment

• Gamma rays are capable of passing

deep inside the body and damage cells
on their travels. But as well as causing
cancer, they can be used to kill off
cancer cells and even cure people from
this illness. This treatment is called
radiotherapy
 Killing microbes

• Gamma rays successfully kill microbes that cause

food to decay. So food treated with this radiation
have a longer shelf life. Surgical instruments and
syringes are also treated with gamma rays, in
order, to prevent infections been transferred from
patient to patient.
 Carbon Dating

• When an animal or plant dies it stops taking in carbon.

But its carbon-14 content continues to decay. If we
compare the carbon-14 with that from a living thing, and
knowing the half-life of carbon-14, the age of animal and
plant remains can be calculated. This is known as carbon
dating.
 RADIATION CONTROLS
• Time: Minimize time of exposure to minimize total dose. Rotate
employees to restrict individual dose.

• Distance: Maximize distance to source to maximize attenuation in air.

The effect of distance can be estimated from equations.

• Shielding: Minimize exposure by placing absorbing shield between

worker and source.
 Half-Life

• Amount of time it takes for one half of a sample

of radioactive atoms to decay
Medical Applications of Half-Life
Nuclide Half-Life Area of Body
I–131 8.1 days Thyroid
Red Blood
Fe–59 45.1 days
Cells

Sr–87 2.8 hours Bones

Tc–99 6.0 hours Heart

Circulatory
Na–24 14.8 hours
System
 Half-Life Calculation #1
• You have 400 mg of a radioisotope with a half-life of 5 minutes. How
much will be left after 30 minutes?
Half-Life Calculation #2
• Suppose you have a 100 mg sample of Au-191, which has a half-life of
3.4 hours. How much will remain after 10.2 hours?
Examples of Half-Life

Isotope Half life

C-15 2.4 sec
Ra-224 3.6 days
Ra-223 12 days
I-125 60 days
C-14 5700 years
U-235 710 000 000 years
 ADVANTAGES

1. Radiation needs no medium in order to be

able to take place.

2. It travels very fast.

3. Doctors sometimes insert a little amount

of radioactive element inside us in order to
be able to see cancerous cells or broken
bones.

4. Radioactive elements contain a huge

amount of energy stored inside them.
 DISADVANTAGES

• 1. Radiation is dangerous (Ultra violet light is divided into U.V.A and U.V.B,
and U.V.B is dangerous and causes cancer. radiation from radioactive
elements are lethal to human beings)

2. Radiation waves are present everywhere in our everyday live( radio waves,
WI-FI, Bluetooth) Ant these cause infertility and develop cancerous cells, with
time.