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Westmead Physics > Nuclear Medicine > Flashcards

Nuclear Medicine Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the forces holding an atom together?

A

Strong nuclear force

Coulomb (electric force)

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2
Q

What is an Auger electron?

A

Another electron gets all the energy from an electron that drops down a level. This electron then flies off with all that excess energy.

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3
Q

What happens to excess energy from a nucleus relaxing?

A

A gamma-ray is released

Can create an Auger electron (which in turn causes a characteristic x-ray to occur)

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4
Q

How do Auger electrons cause x-rays?

A

An electron drops down a shell to fill the Auger electron’s place and a characteristic x-ray is released

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5
Q

What symbol represents ‘Mass Number’?

A

A

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6
Q

What symbol represents ‘Atomic Number’?

A

Z

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7
Q

What does ‘A’ represent in nuclear medicine?

A

Mass number (number of proton+ neutrons)

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8
Q

What does ‘Z’ represent in nuclear medicine?

A

Atomic number (number of protons/ electrons)

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9
Q

What symbol represents ‘Neutron Number’?

A

N

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10
Q

What does ‘N’ represent in nuclear medicine?

A

Neutron number

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11
Q

What are Isotopes?

A

atoms with the same atomic number but different mass number

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12
Q

What are Isobars?

A

atoms with the same mass number but different atomic numbers

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13
Q

What are Isotones?

A

atoms with the same number of neutrons

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14
Q

What is it called when nuclear decay transfers energy to an orbital electron rather than emitting a gamma ray?

A

internal conversion

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15
Q

What factors make a nucleus unstable?

A

large mass number (everything > 209 unstable)
number of protons/ neutrons very different
odd number of protons: neutrons

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16
Q

What are the generic names that atoms decay to/ from?

A

parent –> daughter

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17
Q

What is an alpha particle?

A

2 neutrons, 2 protons

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18
Q

What is a beta particle?

A

a free electron (or positron)

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19
Q

What is a neutrino?

A

a massless chargeless particle that travels at the speed of light and almost never interacts with matter

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20
Q

What is alpha decay?

A

when an alpha particle is emitted from the nucleus?

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21
Q

What is beta minus decay?

A

A neutron turns into a proton and releases an electron (and anti-neutrino)

22
Q

What is beta minus decay also known as?

A

beta particle emission

23
Q

What is beta particle emission also known as?

A

beta minus decay

24
Q

What is beta plus decay also known as?

A

positron emission?

25
Q

What is positron emission also known as?

A

beta plus decay

26
Q

What is beta plus decay?

A

a proton turns into a neutron (and releases a positron)

27
Q

What is required for positron emission to occur

A

a proton-rich nuclide with at least 1022keV of excess energy

28
Q

What occurs after positron emission?

A

they interact almost immediately with a nearby electron and release two photons (511keV each)

29
Q

What is ‘electron capture’ in nuclear medicine?

A

an inner-shell electron is drawn into a nucleus and combines with a proton to form a neutron and neutrino

30
Q

What occurs after electron capture?

A

Electrons drop down to the inner shell and cause the release of either an auger electron or characteristic radiation

31
Q

What is a metastable state?

A

an excited nucleus that may stay in the unstable state for a number of hours

32
Q

What effects the rate of radioactive decay

A

only the number of unstable nuclei,

unaffected by temperature pressure etc

33
Q

What are units of radioactive decay?

A

Becquerel (SI units)
- 1 disintegraiton/ second

Curie (historical/ USA units)

34
Q

What is a decay series?

A

a series of radioactive reactions that occur, when one radioisotope decays into another that is also radioactive

35
Q

What two types of particles can cause ionizing radiation?

A

charged particles

photons

36
Q

What large charged particles can cause ionising radiation?

A

alpha particles
protons
deutrons

37
Q

What are deuterons?

A

hydrogen particles with a neutron + proton

38
Q

How far do large charged particles travel?

A

not very far

4cm in air, less in thicker tissue

39
Q

What metric is used for how much radiation energy ionizing particles release as they travel?

A

linear energy transfer

40
Q

What is pair production in nuclear medicine?

A

a photon splits into a positron and an electron

41
Q

What conditions are necessary for pair production to occur?

A

the photon needs to have at least 1022keV of energy

42
Q

What 3 processes make up photon attenuation in matter?

A

photo-electric effect
compton scatter
pair production

43
Q

What is used to measure photon radiation in nuclear medicine?

A

scintillators

44
Q

what is the most common scintillator in nuclear medicine?

A

Sodium Iodide (NaI)

45
Q

What are desirable properties for scintillators

A

high Z
high light output
highly transparent
cheap

46
Q

What are some issues with Na I scintillators?

A

low mechanical stability

absorbs water from air (hygroscopic)

47
Q

What is used with scintillators to produce a measurable signal

A

a photomultiplier tube

48
Q

What does a scintillator do?

A

absorbs ionising radiation and releases visible light

49
Q

what does a photomultiplier tube do?

A

Converts light to electrons then amplifies massively

50
Q

What occurs with the signal from a photomultiplier tube in nuclear medicine?

A

Cleaned up and then processed by a pulse height analyser (PHA)

51
Q

What does a Pulse Height Analyser (PHA) do in nuclear medicine?

A

determines if the pulse is between a sweet lower/ upper boundary

Westmead Physics (17 decks)

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