R adioactivity

- Introduction

All su bstances are made of atom s. These have elect rons (e) around the outside, and a nucleus in the mi ddle.

The nucleus consists of protons (p) and neut rons (n), and is ext remely small. (Atoms are alm ost ent irely made of em pty spac e!)

In som typ es of atom the nucleus is e , unstable, and will decay into a mo re stable atom This rad ioactive decay is . com pletely spontaneous.

This form of Lithium is not radioactive - it's just an exam ple of a simple atom. Most radi oa ctive substances have many mo re particles in their nu cleus.

You can heat the su bstance up, or subject it to high pressu re or strong magnetic fields - in fact, do whate ver you like to it and you won't affect the ra te of decay in the slightest.

W hen an uns table nucleus It may give ou t:-

decays,

the re are three ways that it can do so.

an alpha par ticle (we use the symbol ) a beta par ticle (symbol ) a gamma ray (symb ol )

Many rad ioactive su bstances em par ticles and parti cles as well as it rays. In fact, you won't find a pure so urce; anything that gives off rays will also give off and /or too.

Typ es of R adioactive
Alp ha

Ray s

Alpha radiat ion is a heavy, very shor t-range particle and is actually an ejected helium nucleus. Some cha racte risti cs of alpha radiation are: Most alpha radiation is not able to penetrate hum an skin. are

Alpha -emitting materials can be harmful to humans if the materials inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through open wou nds. A variety of instrum en ts has been designed to measu re alpha radiati on. Special training in the use of the se instrum en ts is essential for making accura te measurem ts. en A thin-w indow Geige r-Mueller (GM) probe can detect alpha radiation.

the presence of

Instrum ents cannot detect alp ha radiat ion through even a thin layer of w ater, dust, paper, or other material, beca use alpha radiation is not penetrating. Alpha radiat ion travels only a short dis tance (a few inches) in air, but is not an external haza rd. Alpha radiat ion is not able to penetrate Exampl es of som alpha em e itters: radium , clot hing. thorium .

radon, uranium ,

Alp ha Particles
Alpha par ticles are m de of 2 protons and 2 neut rons. a This means that they have a cha rge of +2, and a m ass of 4 (the m ss is measured in "ato mic mass units", where each a proton & neutron=1) Alpha par ticles are relatively slow and heav y. They have a low penetrating with just a sheet of pape r. power - you can stop them ionise

Becaus e they have a large cha rge, alpha particles oth er atom stron gly. s

B eta
Beta radiation is a light, short -range particle and is actually an ejected elec tron. Som characteristics e of be ta radiat ion are: Beta radiation penetrating. may tra vel several feet in air and is mod erately

Beta radiation can penetrate human skin to the "ge rminal layer," wh ere new skin cells are produced. If high levels of be ta-em ting it contam inants are allowed to rem ain on the skin for a prolonged per iod of tim they may cause skin inj ury. e, Beta-emitt ing contam inants m ay be harmf ul if deposited inte rnall y.

Most beta emitt ers can be detected w ith a survey instrum ent and a thi n-window GM probe (e.g ., "panc ake" type). Some be ta em ers, itt howeve r, produce very low-ene rgy, poorly penetrating radiat ion that m ay be difficult or impossible to detect. Examples of these difficult- todetect beta em itters are hydroge n-3 (tritium), car bon- 14, and sulf ur35. Clot hing provides some protection against beta radiatio n. st rontium- 90, car bon- 14, tritium ,

Exampl es of som pure beta em e itters: and sulfu r-35. B eta Particles

Beta particles have a charge of min us 1, and a mass of about 1/2000th of a proton. This means that beta parti cles are the sam as an elect ron. e They are fast, and light. Beta particles have a medium penetrating power - they are stopped by a sheet of aluminium or pl astics such as Persp ex. Beta particles ionise ato ms that they pass, but not as st rongly as Alpha particles do.

Gam ma
Gam ma radiati on and x rays are highly penetrating radiati on. Some characteristics of these radiations elect rom agnetic are:

Gam ma radiati on or x rays are able to tra vel many feet in air and many inches in human tissue. They readily penetrate m ost m aterials and are som etim es called "penetrating" radiation . X rays are like gam ma rays. X rays, too, are penet rati ng radiation. Sealed rad ioactive sou rces and machines that em gam a radiation it m and x rays respectively constitute m ainly an exte rnal ha zard to hum ns. a Gam ma radiati on and x rays are elect rom agnetic radiation like visible light, rad io waves, and ultraviolet light. Th ese elec trom agnetic radiati ons differ only in the am ount of ene rgy they have. Ga mma rays and x rays are the m ost ene rgetic of these. Dense m ate rials are needed for shielding from gam ma radiat ion. Clot hing provides lit tle shielding from penetrati ng radiation, but will prevent contam ination of the skin by gam ma-emitt ing rad ioactive m aterials. Gam ma radiati on is easily detected iodide detector probe. by survey m eters with a sodium

Gam ma radiati on and/ or characteristic x rays frequently accompany the emission of alpha and beta radiation during radioactive de cay. Exampl es of som gam ma em e itters: iodine-131, cesium -137, cobalt-60, radium -226, and technetium -99m .

Gam ma Ray s

Gam ma rays are wa ves, not particles. they have no mass and no charge.

This means that

Gam ma rays have a high penetrating power - it takes a thick sheet of m tal such as lead, or conc rete to e reduce them sign ificantl y. Gam ma rays do not di rectly ionise other atoms, althou gh they m ay cause ato ms to emit other parti cles which will then cause ionisatio n.
We don't find pure gam a sources - gam a rays are em m m itted alongside alpha or beta particles. Strictly speaking, gam a emissi on isn't 'radioact ive decay' bec ause it does n't m cha nge the sta te of the nucleus, it just ca rries away som ene rgy. e

Rad ioactive

dec ay

Radioactive decay is the proce ss in which an unstable atom ic nucleus spontaneously los es ene rgy by emitting ionizing par ticles and radiation. This decay, or loss of ene rgy, results in an atom of one type, called the pa rent nuc lide transfo rming to an atom of a diffe rent type, called the daughter nuc lide. For exam e: a car bon- 14 atom (the "parent") em pl its radiation and

transfo rm to a nit rogen- 14 atom (the "daughte r"). This is a random proce ss s on the atom ic level, in that it is impossible to predict when a given atom will decay, but given a large num ber of similar ato ms the de cay rate, on ave rage, is predi ctable. Alpha D ay ec In alpha decay, the nucleus emits an alpha particle; an alpha particle is essentially a helium nucleus, so it's a group of two protons and two neutrons. A helium nucleus is very stable. An example of an alpha decay involves uranium-238:

The process of transforming one element to another is known as transmutation. Alpha particles do not travel far in air before being absorbed; this makes them very safe for use in smoke detectors, a common household item.

Beta decay
A beta particle is often an electron, but can also be a positron, a positively-charged particle that is the anti-matter equivalent of the electron. If an electron is involved, the number of neutrons in the nucleus decreases by one and the number of protons increases by one. An example of such a process is:

In terms of safety, beta particles are much more penetrating than alpha particles, but much less than gamma particles.

Gamma decay
The third class of radioactive decay is gamma decay, in which the nucleus changes from a higher-level energy state to a lower level. Similar to the energy levels for electrons in the atom, the nucleus has energy levels. The concepts of shells, and more stable nuclei having filled shells, apply to the nucleus as well. When an electron changes levels, the energy involved is usually a few eV, so a visible or ultraviolet photon is emitted. In the nucleus, energy differences between levels are much larger, typically a few hundred keV, so the photon emitted is a gamma ray. Gamma rays are very penetrating; they can be most efficiently absorbed by a relatively thick layer of high-density material such as lead. A list of known nuclei and their properties can be found in the chart of the nuclides at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Rad ioacti v D ay Seir ie e ec s A rad ioactive de cay series is the chain of deca ys that occ ur star ting w ith a rad ioactive isotope. An exam ple of this is the uranium -radium series: Uraniu m-238 decays thorium- 234 protactini um-23 4

Thorium -234 decays Pr otactinium-234 Uraniu m-234 Thorium

decays to form uranium-2 34 decays deca ys thorium- 230 radium-2 26

Radium-226 go es through five mo re deca ys and four mo re deca ys to yield the no n-radioactive isotope 206Pb, or lead. This seri es is also called the 4n+2 series, becau se the mass num bers of each of the isotopes in the series can be represented by 4n+2, whe re n is an intege r. The thorium series is a 4n series; it starts at thorium-232 and the end result is 208>Pb. The actinium series, or 4n+3 series, begins with uranium -235 and en ds at Pb-20 7.

Half life of radioactive

elem ents

The hal f-life of a radio active elem ent is the tim that it takes for one half of the e atom of that subs tance to disin tegr ate into another nuclear form. These can range s from m re fractions of a se cond, to many billions of yea rs. In addition, the hal f-life of e a particular radio nuclide is uni que to that radionuc lide, m ning that knowledge of ea the hal f-life leads to the identity of the radionucl ide.

The Half-Life From A Decay Curve

256 128 T1/2 T1/2= radio activ e d ay ec

T1/2 = 3 hour s

D efine

Isotope

Iso topes (Greek isos = "equal", tpos = "site, pla ce") are any of the diffe rent types of atom (nuc lide s) of the same chemical ele ment, each having a s diffe rent atomic mass (mas s num ber). Isotopes of an elem ent have nuclei with the sam num e ber of protons (the sam atomic num e ber) but diffe rent num bers of neut rons. Therefore, isotopes of the sam elem e ent ha ve diffe rent mass num bers (num ber of nucleo ns).

Rad iois otop e A rad ioactive form of an elem ent. A rad ioisotope consis ts of unstable atom s that unde rgo rad ioactive decay em ting alp ha, be ta or gam ma radiat ion. it Radioisot opes occur natura lly, as in the cases of radium and uranium or may , be created artificial ly. Ap plications of Radioactivity and Rad ioisotopes Radioisot opes find num rous uses in diffe rent areas such as m e edicine, chem istry, bio logy, archaeology, agricult ure, industry and eng ineering. Tracer Techniques Radioisotopes are frequently used as tracers or tagged atom in s various fields. In tracer technique, a radioactive iso tope is added to the reactants and its m ovem ent is studied by measu ring rad ioactivity in diffe rent parts. In m edic in e In order to find if blo od is circulating to a wo und or not, a radioactive iso tope is injected into the blood st ream. After a tim per iod, blood e from the wound is exam ines for its rad ioactivit y. If no radioactive iso tope is detected, it means that pass age of blood is hind ered. The rate of circulation can also be detected by this meth od. Tracer technique brain tum ours. is also used for the detection of thy roid diso rder and

 Can cer therapy g - rays emitted by the rad ioiso topes can be used in the treatm ent of cance r. These radiations tend to destroy cance rous cells and the way can arrest the spreading of the cance rous cells. 60CO is used in the treatm ent of tum ours and cancers.

In Agricu ltu re The upt ake of phospho rous by plan ts is studied phosp horous with phosphatic fer tilisers. In Chem istry Tracer technique is used by mixing radioactive

To find the solub ility of sparingly soluble salt like lead sulphate. A lead salt containing known amount of rad ioactive lead is dissolved in wate r. Su lphuric acid is added to the aqueous soluti on to prec ipitate lead as lead sulphate. Tracer technique react ion. Consider is also used to study the path or m echan ism of the

the reaction

The qu est ion is how does the eli mination of water take pla ce - does the oxygen atom in water come from the alcoh ol or acid. This is studied by label ling or tagging the oxygen in the alcoh ol molecule. In other wo rds, the alco hol is prepa red with O18. Results show that the ester form ed has the rad ioactive oxygen. This shows that the starred oxygen com es from the alco hol. Thus the -OH group of the acid and the H atom of the alcoh ol are eli minated in the form of wate r.

Dangers

of Radi oactive

Ray s
is the dam age it does to

T he m ain danger from radioactivity the cells in your bod y.

Most of this da mage is due to ioni sat ion when the radiation pass es, although if levels of radiation are high the re can be da mage due to heating effects as your body absorbs the ene rgy from the radiation, rather like heating food in a mic rowave oven. This is particula rly true of gam a rays. m

Alpha Particles ( )
Alpha particles are slow, have a short range in air, and can be stopped by a sheet of pape r. You might the refore assum that alp ha par ticles are the least dang erous of e the three typ es of radiation .

Whilst they cannot penetrate your skin, you could easily eat or drink something contaminated with an source. This would put a source of particles inside your body, wreaking havoc by ionising ato ms in nearby cells. If this happens to part of the DNA in one of your cells, then that cell's instruct ions abo ut how to live and grow have been scram ble d. The cell is then likely to do somethi ng very diffe rent to what it's sup posed to do, for exam ple, it may turn cance rous and start multiplying uncont rollabl y. Thus alpha par ticles, wh ilst they have a low penetrating pow er, can be the m ost dange rous be cause they ionise so stron gly.

Beta Particles ( )
-particles have a longer range t han 's, but ionise much less strongly, with the result that they do around 1/20th of the dam done age by the sam e dose of alpha particles. However, they do have mo re penetrating power, which means that they can get through your skin and affect cells inside yo u.

Gamm a Rays ( )
Gam ma rays hardly ionise ato ms at all, so they do not cause dam age directly in this wa y. However, gam ma rays are very diffi cult to stop; you requ ire lead or conc rete shieldi ng to keep you safe from them. When they are abso rbed by an atom , those atom gains quite a bit of ene rgy, and may then em other par ticles. If it that atom is in one of your cells, this is not good!

Nu clear Energy
Nuclear ene rgy is rele ased by the splitti ng (fission) or me rging togeth er (fusion) of the nuclei of atom (s). The convers ion of nuclear mass to ene rgy is consistent wi th the mass-ene rgy equivalence formula E = m .c, in which E = ene rgy release, m = mass defect, and c = the speed of light in a

vacuum (a physical cons tant). Nuclear ene rgy was first discove red by French physicist Hen ri Becqu erel in 1896, w hen he found that photographic plates sto red in the da rk near uranium we re bla ckened like X-ray plates, which had been just recently discove red at the tim 1895. e Ato mic M ss Uni t a

The atom ic mass unit it the unit of mass for ato ms and subatomic parti cles such as the proton, neut ron an elect ron 1 atom mass unit or 1 u is 121 of the mass of the car bon- 12 atom ic . The mass of one carb on- 12 atom is 1.99265 x 10-26 kg 1 u = 26 1099265.11 21 kg 1 u = 1.66 x 10-27 kg Mas d fect s e Definition: The distance betw een the oretical calculated mass and experim entally measu red mass of nucleus is called mass defect. It is den oted by m. It can be calculated as follows: M ass defect = (Theo retical calc ulated mass) - (measured mass of nucleus) i.e, (sum of masse s of protons and neu trons) - (m asured mass of nucleu s) e - In nucl ear reactions, the ene rgy that m ust be radiated or otherwise removed as binding ene rgy m ay be in the form of elect rom agnetic wa ves, such as gam ma radiat ion, or as heat. Again, however, no mass defi cit can in the ory app ear until this radiation has been em itted and is no longer part of the system . - The ene rgy given off during either nuclear fusion or nuclear fission is the diffe rence betw een the bin ding ene rgies of the fuel and the fusion or fission products. In practice, this ene rgy m ay also be calculated from the substantial mass diff erences between the fuel and products, once evolved heat and radiati on have been rem oved. - W hen the nucleons are grouped togeth er to form a nucleus, they lose a small amount of mass i.e. Th ere is m ass defect. This mass defect is rele ased as (often radiant) ene rgy acco rding to the relation E = mc 2; thus bin ding ene rgy = mass defect * c2 . This energy hol ds the nucleons together and is known as bind ing ene rgy. In fact, mass defect is a measu re of the binding ene rgy of the nucleus. The greater the mass defect, the greater is the

binding ene rgy of the nucleus. Nuclear Fussions into two lighter nuclei

Nuclear fission is the splitti ng of a heavy nucleus Fission occurs when the nucleus

of an atom is bom rded w ba ith a neut ron.

The energy of the neut ron ca uses the target nucleus to split into two (or more) nuclei that are lig hter than the pa rent nucleus, releasing a large am ount of ene rgy during the proce ss. Problem Solving Invol ving Nucl ear Fussion The relationsh ip betw een E=m c2 Whe re E = ene rgy released, in joules, J m = loss of mass or mass defect, c = speed of light = 3.0 x 108 m /s in kg the mass and the ene rgy:

Ex ample of nuclear

power plant

A nuclear It produces trem endous fiss ion.

reactor

amount of ene rgy through nuclear Ura nium fuel rod s

The nuclei are split by neut rons in a cont rolled chain reaction, releasing a large am ount of ene rgy. The ene rgy releas ed hea ts up the cold gas that passes through the reactor co re. Graphite moderator

Acts as a m oderator to slow down the fast neut rons produced by the fission. Slower neut rons are mo re readily capt ured by the uranium nu clei.] Boron or cadmium cont rol rod

The boron con trol rods absorb neut rons. It can cont rol the rate of fiss ion reactio n. W hen rods are lowe red into the reactor co re to absorb som of the neut rons, the rate of the fission reaction e red uced. Conc rete shield

Prevents lea kage of radiat ion from the reactor

co re.

Coolant Take away the heat from the nuclear reacto r. Substances with high specif ic heat ca pacity such as water and carbon di oxide are used. Heat exchanger Heat ene rgy from the very hot gas is used to boil the w ater into ste am

Importance Substance

Of Prope rm anagm ent

su bstance Genetic Cancer Birth defects

Of Radioactive

The ne gative effec ts of radioactive Somatic effec ts

effects

Radiation bu rns Leu kemia Organ fail ure Vomitting Hair loss Fatigue Skin bu rn Safety precaut ions needed - Radioactive - Radioactive

Down Syn drom e Turner Synd rom e Klinefelter Synd rom e

in hand ling of rad ioactive su bstances

material is sealed in special designed containers contamination may exist on surfa ces or in volume of air

- Workers should work behind shields - Weak rad ioactive sou rces are to be handled with forceps

- Food and drinks are prohib ited in the laborat ory

The m anagem ent

High-level radioactive

of radi oactive
waste

wa ste

Spent fuel is highly rad ioactive and needs to be handled with great ca re and foret hought. However, spent nuclear fuel becom es less radioactive over the course of thou sands of years of time. After about 5 pe rcent of the rod has reacted the rod is no longer able to be used. Today, scientis ts are experimenti ng on how to recycle these rods to reduce waste. In the m eantim e, after 40 years, the radiation flux is 99.9% lower than it was the m ent the spent fuel was removed, although still dange rously rad ioactive. om

Low- level rad ioactive wast The nuclear industry also produces a huge volum of low-level radioactive e waste in the form of contam inated item like clot hing, hand tools, water s purifier resins, and (upon decommissioning) the materials of which the react or itself is built. In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has repeatedly attem pted to allow low-level materials to be handled as normal waste: landf illed, recycled into consumer items, et cetera. [citation needed] Most low-level waste releases very low levels of rad ioactivity and is only consid ered rad ioactive waste be caus e of its hist ory.