Topic 6

Question 0

What is becquerel

Answer 0

The unit of radioactivity

Question 1

Causes of background radiation

Answer 1

Living things contain radioactive materials

Some rocks are radioactive

Radon gas trapped in rocks or under house floors

The Sun and also Space

Question 2

Main causes of background radiation in UK

Answer 2

• radon gas
• medical
• rocks
• some foods (bananas)
• nuclear power stations
• cosmic rays

Question 3

What did Marie Curie discover?

Answer 3

Worked with ionising radiation

Made link between radioactivity and cancer

Question 4

Ernest Rutherford

Answer 4

Discovered the atom

Question 5

Henri Becquerel

Answer 5

Discovered radioactivity

Ionised gases

Question 6

What does HLW, ILW and LLW mean?

Answer 6

High Level Waste (concrete -> metal container -> glass)

Intermediate Level Waste (metal container)

Low Level Waste (clothes/protection against radioactivity)

Question 7

Problems with dumping barrels full of radioactive waste into the sea

Answer 7

Barrel is going to corrode
Radioactive substances will leak out
Contaminate food chain (fish will become radioactive)

Question 8

Problems with firing radioactive substances into space

Answer 8

The shuttle containing it could explode

Question 9

Problems with storage underground

Answer 9

You need to have a very stable geological site that never has earthquakes which is difficult to be sure of

Question 10

What is a half life?

Answer 10

Time taken for a half ‘unstable’ nuclei to decay

Question 11

What do you use to measure radioactivity

Answer 11

Geiger Müller tube

Question 12

What does the term count rate mean for a Geiger Müller tube

Answer 12

Counts per second

Question 13

What is the half life of the isotope Uranium?

Answer 13

700 million years

Question 14

3 uses of radioactivity

Answer 14

Tracers in pipes (to find gas leaks)

Radiotherapy

Smoke detectors

Question 15

How does a smoke alarm work?

Answer 15

The smoke absorbs the alpha (which is already in the alarm) which stops the current flowing and results in the alarm going off.

Question 16

Difference between radiation and irradiation

Answer 16

Irradiation = when you expose something to radiation (which we do to some foods and medial equipment)

Radiation = when a nucleus decays and gives out alpa/beta/gamma radiation

Question 17

Benefits of irradiating food

Answer 17

Lasts longer (as kills bacteria and microorganisms that decays it is sterilised by gamma rays)

Won’t get sick as safer to eat

Not radioactive

Question 18

Drawbacks of irradiating food

Answer 18

Could destroy vitamins on food (get sick)

Still some germs left over

(Some say) it changes the taste of some food

Doesn’t destroy viruses

Question 19

How can gamma rays be used to help diagnose and treat cancer?

Answer 19

Tracer = accumulates in area of cancer

Radiotherapy = fire a bit of radiation from lots of directions to kill cancer cells (without cutting brain open)