radiation

Question 1

what happens to radioactive substances over time

Answer 1

they lose their radioactivity and become more stable
the time taken for a radioactive substance to lose half it’s radioactivity is known as it’s half life

Question 2

ionising radiation

Answer 2

certain radiation will cause an electron to be removed from an atom (ionising it)
can cause cell death or lead to cell to becoming cancerous

Question 3

ionising properties of each type of radiation

Answer 3

alpha- most ionising when ingested but cannot break skin barrier (slow and heavy)
beta and gamma- not very ionising and will most likely pass through without causing damage but can get through skin
long half life- decays slowly and will not release a lot of radiation (safer)
short heart life- decays quickly and will produce a large amount of ionising radiation quicly

Question 4

uses

Answer 4

tracers- radioactive materials can accumulate in certain areas (e.g cancerous tumours). Beta and gamma used with a short half life.

radiotherapy- used to kill cancer

radio dating- carbon 14 is in everything when looking at how many half lifes have occurred we can date how old something is.