Radioactivity - Continued Flashcards
What can radioactive tracers do?
Can trace the flow of a substance through a system
How are radioactive tracers useful?
They can be used in medicine to see if a patients kidney is blocked by giving the patient radioactive iodine and then shooting gamma rays through the body and the radioactive iodine can be detected outside the body
What is radioactive dating used for?
To find the ages of materials
What are the two main types of radioactive dating
Carbon dating
Uranium dating
What does carbon dating find the age of and how?
Old wood - living wood contains a small amount radioactive carbon
Organic materials
Dead wood does not contain any carbon
What can uranium dating find the age for and how?
Igneous rocks - contain radioactive uranium
Each uranium atom decays into an atom of lead
What contributes to background radiation?
The environment - air, ground, building materials
From space - cosmic rays
X - ray tubes
Nuclear power stations
When is automatic thickness monitoring used?
Making metal foil
