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Chernobyl Flashcards

1
Q

How does ionising radiation affect the body?

A
  1. X rays and gamma rays in the radioactive elements have high energy photons
  2. the photon hits an electron in an atom and either all or some of its energy is absorbed by the electron and the electron is released
  3. the removal of the electron results in a positive ion being formed
  4. If this happens in an atom in DNA it then this causes a mutation in the DNA
  5. Can cause the cell to become sterile meaning it cannot reproduce
  6. Water is abundant in cells and ionisation of water leads to the formation of H+ and OH- free radicals.
  7. free radicals are very reactive so they can damage DNA and other organic molecules which can lead to a dead or mutated cell
  8. When cells reproduce the DNA is more exposed making the cells more vulnerable to radiation damage
  9. This means faster growing cells are more radiation sensitive
    7.
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2
Q

What is a photon?

A

A tiny particle or bundle of electromagnetic radiation

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3
Q

What is compton scattering?

A

When a photon hits an electron and only some of the energy is absorbed by the electron

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4
Q

What is photoelectric effect?

A

When a photon hits an electron and the electron absorbs all of the energy

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5
Q

When a photon hits an electron what happens and how does this affect the atom?

A

Theelectron absorbs its energy and is released. The removal of this electron results in a positive ion being formed

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6
Q

Why can a positive ion being formed damage cells?

A

Because if the damaged atom is in DNA then it can damage the DNA and cause mutations which can lead to different illnesses

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7
Q

Other than mutations in DNA, what else can ionising radiation do to a cell?

A

Cause it to become sterile and therefore can not reproduce

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8
Q

Which molecule in cells can ionising radiation affect?

A

Water

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9
Q

How is water affected by ionising radiation?

A

Ionisation of water can lead to the formation of H+ and OH- free radicals which are r=very reactive so they can therefore damage DNA and other organic molecules

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10
Q

Why are free radicals so reactive?

A

due to the presence of one unpaired electron which tends to donate it or to obtain another electron to attain stability.

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11
Q

Which types of cells are more vulnerable to a]effect by ionising radiation and why?

A

Dividing cells because in dividing cells DNA is more is more exposed making it more vulnerable to damage. This may cause these cells to be mutated an then as they divide they’re dividing fast so they become cancerous

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12
Q

Give an example of a dosimeter

A

The film badge

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13
Q

What is the film badge made up of?

A

Thin plastic, thick plastic, plastic holder, aluminium, copper, lead, mesh

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14
Q

What in the film badge helps detect radiation and how?

A
  • there is sensitive emulsion which measures low doses
  • there is an even lower sensitivity emulsion which measures higher doses
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15
Q

What happens to the emulsion film in a film badge when it detects ionising radiation?

A

It turns black

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16
Q

What is the purpose of the plastic panels in a film badge?

A

To measure the beta radiation of different energies

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17
Q

What is the purpose of the aluminium and copper in a film badge?

A

To measure high energy X and gamma rays

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18
Q

What is the point of the mesh in a film badge

A

to block all radiation including high energy x and gamma rays

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19
Q

What are the advantages of the film badge?

A

Cheap
measures mixed radiation types

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20
Q

What is the disadvantage of the film badge?

A

Limited accuracy 10-20%
there is a time delay before the exposure is known

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21
Q

What is the mass defect?

A

The mass of protons and neutrons in an atom added together is always higher than the actual mass of that element. The difference between these two is the mass defect

22
Q

Why is the mass of protons and neutrons added together higher than the actual mass of an element?

A

because the missing mass is present in the form of energy that is used to hold the nucleons together

23
Q

E = mc^2, what does everything stand ffor?

A

c = speed of light
E = binding energy that is holding the nucleons together
m = the mass defect

24
Q

What is nuclear energy?

A

The binding energy that is released when a proton or neutron is removed from a nucleus

25
Q

What is fission?

A

When a large molecule splits into two lighter ones

26
Q

What is fusion?

A

When two lighter nuclei join to form a heavier one

27
Q

What is similar between fusion and fission?

A

The products of the reactions is always more stable than the starting materials, which is what causes it in the first place

28
Q

What drives fusion or fission to occur in the first place?

A

They want to be more stable

29
Q

Elements with high binding energies are…

A

Stable and barely undergo reactions

30
Q

Give an example of an element with a high binding energy

A

Iron-56

31
Q

What do elements with binding energies higher than iron 56 tend to do?

A

They tend to do fission / break into two or more smaller nuclei

32
Q

What do elements with lower binding energies than iron 56 tend to do?

A

Fusion / two nuclei join together to make a heavier one

33
Q

Uranium 235 is the most common what?

A

Fuel for fission in power plants

34
Q

What happens in power plants that use uranium 235?

A
  1. They hit the uranium 235 with neutrons from another source causing the atom to split
  2. This produces krypton 2, barium 141, 3 free neutrons and lots of energy
  3. The energy released is mainly released in the form of kinetic energy of the escaping particles which is released to the surroundings as heat energy
  4. Some energy is released in the form of light, gamma rays and x rays
35
Q

What happened in the chernobyl power plant?

A
  1. There is a chain reaction where uranium atoms continue to split over and over again, releasing mass amounts of energy in the form of heat
  2. this can produce more heat energy than the power plant can use so the temperature can rise to dangerous levels, causing the uranium to melt
36
Q

Why is the fission of uranium dangerous?

A

The products from uranium fission produces many different isotopes of elements which also break down and release more neutrons and more unstable products and they allow eventually yield stable products but their half lives are so long and the ones with short half lives release lost of energy and vice verse

37
Q

Why do you think vitamin d is uneccessary?

A

Well this is what I found when I read Overkill and he mentions how these misconceptions of vitamin d (how it prevents cancer, strokes heart attacks, diseases, diabetes and increases bone density) came about because the studies that were done on vitamin d were unreliable as they were mostly ecological and observational studies. For example, people who lived in sunnier environments were compared to those who lived in cooler climates and compared them and they assumed that these differences were due to vitamin d when that isn’t neccessarily the case as there are many other factors to consider. didn’t controlling diet, smoking, exercise
And then when they did a placebo controlled study, they found that none of these claims about vitamin d was true

38
Q

Why were studies done on vitamin d unreliable?

A

because the studies done were mostly ecological and observational studies
Only two studies were done
For example, people who lived in sunnier environments were compared to those who lived in cooler climates and compared them and they assumed that these differences were due to vitamin d when that isn’t neccessarily the case as there are many other factors to consider. didn’t controlling diet, smoking, exercise

39
Q

What wasn’t controlled when the initial studies for vitamin d was done?

A

didn’t controlling diet, smoking, exercise
Didnt take into account peopels health history

40
Q

What did you learn from overkill?

A

Something I can say that really stayed with me from the book is that a good study needs to very well controlled in order for for it to be reliable and repeated. The results have to be recurring. Of course we learn this in college in biology and in chemistry but the book really emphasised to me its importance because a real life example with vitamin d was given where unreliable studies have resulted in false claims about vitamin d supplements so now there are hundreds of thousands of people who take them when it is not needed and because of this can actually lead to harm as excessive amounts can result in vitamin d toxicity.

41
Q

What do people believe vitamin d can do?

A

prevents cancer, strokes heart attacks, diseases, diabetes and increases bone density

42
Q

What makes a good study?

A

Repeats : the results have to be reccuring
Have to control all other factors to make sure that results are solely due to vitamin d

43
Q

What was controlled in the placebo controlled vitamin d study?

A
44
Q

What did you learn from the disappearing spoon?

A

I initially started reading this book because I wanted to find out more about elements that we don’t usually hear about in school and this peaked my interest in radioactive elements as they’re not talked about a lot in college or high school. Instead I came across Carborane acid which stuck out to me because firstly its the strongest and gentlest acid, but it also has a role in helping vitamins be absorbed and obviously i’m very interested in vitamins. The boron in it is what makes it such an unusual acid because of how easily it donates its electrons, and doesn’t even take electrons from other molecules to replace them. Through further reading I learnt that it is neutron hungry which makes it great for controlling nuclear reactions which is what happened in Chernobyl which is what im currently reading on at the moment.

45
Q

Why is carborane the strongest and most gentlest acid?

A
46
Q

Why is boron neutron hungry?

A

has a high nuclear cross-section and can capture the thermal neutrons that are generated by the fission reaction of uranium

47
Q

What have you learnt from labcorp?

A
  • takes 10-15 years to fully develop a drug as making sure they are safe is very important and is time sensitive
  • even the slightest change in a molecule/drug can change the whole nature and therefore use of the drug
  • science, chermistry and biology in particular, are as much ethics as they are efficiency and success
48
Q

Why chemistry?

A
  • In my opinion chemistry allows us to able to understand what’s going on around us to a deeper level, to the deepest level as there is nothing smaller than an atom
  • especially elements because without one single atom that we cant even see, carbon, the world would crumble
  • theres always a question of why something happens
49
Q

Draw the mechanism for vitamin d2

A
50
Q

C= O and C = C which is more favourable and why?

A

C = O because electrons are lower energy in a C = O bond

51
Q

At what temperature do sigmatropic rearrangements usually happen?

A

High temperatures

52
Q

What do languages add to your degree?

A
  • Improved memory
  • allows me to improve my skill of thinking about things in a different ways with languages you have more than one way of communicating things
  • conjugating helps problem solving

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