Radiation Flashcards
Revise
What is the charge of a proton?
Positive
Charge of a neutron?
Negative
What is an isotope?
A different version of an element
Which has the most ionising power out of these three :alpha, beta and gamma
Alpha
Least ionising out of alpha, beta and gamma
Gamma
Which radiation has the most penetrating power?
Gamma
Which radiation has the least penetrating power?
Alpha
Which radiation has the longest range?
Gamma
Which radiation has the shortest range
Alpha
What is irradiation
Being exposed to radioactivity
What is contamination in the context of radiation?
Spreading radioactive material to somewhere you don’t want it to be (e.g. skin)
How do alpha particles work in a smoke detector circuit?
The smoke goes into the smoke detector and as the alpha particles cannot pass through smoke due to low penetrating power, it breaks the circuit and sets off the alarm
What is a half life?
Time taken for a radioactive material to decompose to half its original mass
OR
The time taken for the count rate to fall below half the original value
What is a tracer (in terms of the tool used in medicine)
An unstable radioactive isotope with a short half life which emits gamma radiation so it can be tracked through the patients body to make a map of where the radiation reaches used to see if a patients kidney is blocked
For a medical tracer would a long half life be beneficial (e.g hundreds of years)?
No because the patient wouldn’t live that long so the tracer wouldn’t be useful. The ideal half life for a tracer is a couple hours so it is efficient and effective in the mapping out of the organ.
