Physics Project 1
Physics Project 1
Physics Project 1
On
RADIOACTIVITY
Radioactivity
Radioactivity is the decay or disintegration of the nucleus of a radioactive element.
The radiation emitted is the alpha-particles, the beta-particles and the gamma rays
and a lot of heat. This phenomenon was first discovered by a French Physicist, Henri
Becquerel in 1896. Other famous people parts of this radioactive era are; Lord
Rutherford, and the Curie couple, Marie and Pierre. Radioactive decay is
a stochastic (i.e., random) process at the level of single atoms, in that, according
to quantum theory, it is impossible to predict when a particular atom will
decay. However, the chance that a given atom will decay is constant over time.
BECQUERELS DISCOVERY
THE CURIES DISCOVERY
RUTHERFORDS CONCLUSION
RADIATIONS
TYPES OF RADIOACTIVITY
UNIVERSAL LAW OF RADIOACTIVE DECAY
HALF LIFE
IONIZATION
HALF LIFE
OCCURENCE
DETECTION OF RADIATIONS
USES OF RADIOCTIVITY
HAZARDS OF RADIOCTIVE SUBSTANCES
BECQUERELS DISCOVERY
Working in the Becquerel lab, Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, began what
became a life long study of radioactivity. It took fresh and open minds, along with
much dedicated work, for these scientists to establish the properties of radioactive
matter. Marie Curie wrote, "The subject seemed to us very attractive and all the
more so because the question was entirely new and nothing yet had been written
upon it." On February 17, 1898, the Curies tested an ore of uranium, pitchblende,
for its ability to turn air into a conductor of electricity. The Curies found that the
pitchblende produced a current 300 times stronger than that produced by pure
uranium. They tested and recalibrated their instruments, and yet they still found the
same puzzling results. The Curies reasoned that a very active unknown substance in
addition to the uranium must exist within the pitchblende. In the title of a paper
describing this hypothesized element (which they named polonium after Marie's
native Poland), they introduced the new term: "radio-active."
After much grueling work, the Curies were able to extract enough polonium and
another radioactive element, radium, to establish the chemical properties of these
elements. Marie Curie, with her husband and continuing after his death, established
the first quantitative standards by which the rate of radioactive emission of charged
particles from elements could be measured and compared. In addition, she found
that there was a decrease in the rate of radioactive emissions over time and that
this decrease could be calculated and predicted. But perhaps Marie Curie's greatest
and most unique achievement was her realization that radiation is an atomic
property of matter rather than a separate independent emanation. Polish-born
French physicist, famous for her work on radioactivity and twice a winner of the
Nobel Prize. With Henri Becquerel and her husband, Pierre Curie, she was awarded
the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics. She was the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize
for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she is the only
woman to win the award in two different fields.
RUTHERFORDS CONCLUSION
RADIATIONS
1. Alpha-particles: This type of radiation is positively charged. It is
relatively massive. It has a low penetrating power. Its about 1-20th as
fast as light. It is exactly like the helium atom.
TYPES OF RADIOACTIVITY
I.
NATURAL RADIOCTIVITY
This is the type of radioactivity which consists of a spontaneous
decay of the radioactive nucleus. The phenomenon is experienced
by naturally radioactive substances. The radiation might come out
individually or combined and, as always, with a lot of energy.
Some radioactive substances are:
Americium -241: Used in many smoke detectors for homes and business.
To measure levels of toxic lead in dried paint samples. To ensure uniform
thickness in rolling processes like steel and paper production and to help
determine where oil wells should be drilled.
Cadmium -109: Used to analyze metal alloys for checking stock, sorting
scrap.
Calcium - 47: Important aid to biomedical researchers studying the cell
functions and bone formation of mammals.
Californium - 252: Used to inspect airline luggage for hidden explosives...to
gauge the moisture content of soil in the road construction and building
industries...and to measure the moisture of materials stored in silos.
Carbon - 14: Helps in research to ensure that potential new drugs are
metabolized without forming harmful by-products.
Cesium - 137: Used to treat cancers. To measure correct patient dosages of
radioactive pharmaceuticals. To measure and control the liquid flow in oil
pipelines. To tell researchers whether oil wells are plugged by sand. And to
ensure the right fills level for packages of food, drugs and other products.
(The products in these packages do not become radioactive.)
Chromium - 51: Used in research in red blood cell survival studies.
Cobalt - 57: Used in nuclear medicine to help physicians interpret diagnosis
scans of patients' organs, and to diagnose pernicious anemia.
Cobalt - 60: Used to sterilize surgical instruments. To improve the safety
and reliability of industrial fuel oil burners. And to preserve poultry fruits and
spices.
Copper - 67: When injected with monoclonal antibodies into a cancer
patient, helps the antibodies bind to and destroy the tumor.
Curium - 244: Used in mining to analyze material excavated from pits
slurries from drilling operations.
Iodine - 123: Widely used to diagnose thyroid disorders.
Iodine - 129: Used to check some radioactivity counters in vitro diagnostic
testing laboratories.
Thallium - 204: Measures the dust and pollutant levels on filter paper...and
gauges the thickness of plastics, sheet metal, rubber, textiles and paper.
Thoriated tungsten: Used in electric are welding rods in the construction,
aircraft, petrochemical and food processing equipment industries. It produces
easier starting, greater arc stability and less metal contamination.
Thorium - 229: Helps fluorescent lights to last longer.
Thorium - 230: Provides coloring and fluorescence in colored glazes and
glassware.
Tritium: Used for life science and drug metabolism studies to ensure the
safety of potential new drugs. For self-luminous aircraft and commercial exit
signs. For luminous dials, gauges and wrist watches and to produce luminous
paint.
Uranium - 234: Used in dental fixtures like crowns and dentures to provide
a natural color and brightness.
Uranium - 235: Fuel for nuclear power plants and naval nuclear propulsion
systems. Also used to produce fluorescent glassware, a variety of colored
glazes and wall tiles.
Xenon - 133: Used in nuclear medicine for lung ventilation and blood flow
studies.
One-decay process
Consider the case of a nuclide A decaying into another B by some process A
B (emission of other particles, like electron neutrinos
e and electrons e in beta decay, are irrelevant in what follows). The decay of an
unstable nucleus is entirely random and it is impossible to predict when a particular
atom will decay. However, it is equally likely to decay at any time. Therefore, given
a sample of a particular radioisotope, the number of decay events dN expected to
occur in a small interval of time dt is proportional to the number of atoms present N,
that is
Particular radionuclides decay at different rates, so each has its own decay
constant . The expected decay dN/N is proportional to an increment of
time, dt:
HALF-LIFE
Given a sample of a particular radionuclide, the half-life is the time taken for half the
radionuclide's atoms to decay. For the case of one-decay nuclear reactions:
The half-life is related to the decay constant as follows: set N = N0/2 and t = T1/2 to
obtain
This relationship between the half-life and the decay constant shows that highly
radioactive substances are quickly spent, while those that radiate weakly endure
longer. Half-lives of known radionuclides vary widely, from more than 10 years, such
as for the very nearly stable nuclide
209
The factor of ln (2) in the above relations results from the fact that concept of "halflife" is merely a way of selecting a different base other than the natural base e for
the lifetime expression. The time constant is the e -1 -life, the time until only
1/e remains, about 36.8%, rather than the 50% in the half-life of a radionuclide.
Thus, is longer than t1/2. The following equation can be shown to be valid:
for convenience, and from convention. They reflect a fundamental principle only in
so much as they show that the same proportion of a given radioactive substance
will decay, during any time-period that one chooses.
Mathematically, the nth life for the above situation would be found in the same way
as aboveby setting N = N0/n, {{{1}}} and substituting into the decay solution to
obtain
OCCURRENCE IN NATURE
According to the Big Bang theory, stable isotopes of the lightest five elements
(H, He, and traces of Li, Be, and B) were produced very shortly after the emergence
of the universe, in a process called Big Bang nucleosynthesis. These lightest stable
nuclides (including deuterium) survive to today, but any radioactive isotopes of the
light elements produced in the Big Bang (such as tritium) have long since decayed.
Isotopes of elements heavier than boron were not produced at all in the Big Bang,
and these first five elements do not have any long-lived radioisotopes. Thus, all
radioactive nuclei are, therefore, relatively young with respect to the birth of the
universe, having formed later in various other types of nucleosynthesis in stars (in
particular, supernovae), and also during ongoing interactions between stable
isotopes and energetic particles. For example, carbon-14, a radioactive nuclide with
a half-life of only 5730 years, is constantly produced in Earth's upper atmosphere
due to interactions between cosmic rays and nitrogen.
Nuclides that are produced by radioactive decay are called radiogenic nuclides,
whether they themselves are stable or not. There exist stable radiogenic nuclides
that were formed from short-lived extinct radionuclides in the early solar
system. The extra presence of these stable radiogenic nuclides (such as Xe-129
from primordial I-129) against the background of primordial stable nuclides can be
inferred by various means. Radioactive primordial nuclides found in the Earth are
residues from ancient supernova explosions which occurred before the formation of
the solar system. They are the long-lived fraction of radionuclides surviving in the
primordial solar nebula through planet accretion until the present. The naturally
occurring short-lived radiogenic radionuclides found in rocks are the daughters of
these radioactive primordial nuclides. Another minor source of naturally occurring
radioactive nuclides are cosmogenic nuclides, formed by cosmic ray bombardment
of material in the Earth's atmosphere or crust. The radioactive decay of these
radionuclides in rocks within Earth's mantle and crust contribute significantly
to Earth's internal heat budget.
DETECTION OF
RADIATIONS
1. USING A DOSIMETER OR A FILM BADGE: A dosimeter is a device worn by
radioactive
workers. It
is basically a
film
which
darkens on
incidence
of radiation.
It is
used to
know the
level of
radiation
the worker
has
been
exposed to.
USES OF RADIOACTIVITY
1. Radiology: This is used for research and study in the medical field.
2. Radiotherapy: This is used in the treatment of diseases, especially
cancer. Due to the penetrating power of gamma rays, they are used to
collectively and controllably destroy malignant cells.
7.
The dangers of radioactivity and radiation were not immediately recognized. The
discovery of X-rays in 1895 led to wide spread experimentation by scientists,
physicians, and inventors. Many people began recounting stories of burns, hair loss
and worse in technical journals as early as 1896. In February of that year, Professor
Daniel and Dr. Dudley of Vanderbilt University performed an experiment involving xraying Dudley's head that resulted in him losing hair under where the tube was
placed (reported in the The X-rays Science news supplement). A report by Dr. H.D.
Hawks, a graduate of Columbia College, of his suffering severe hand and chest
burns in an x-ray demonstration, was the first of many other reports in Electrical
Review. Many experimenters including Elihu Thomson at Thomas Edison's
lab, William J. Morton, and Nikola Tesla also reported burns. Elihu Thomson
deliberately exposed a finger to an x-ray tube over a period of time and suffered
pain, swelling, and blistering. Other effects were sometime blamed for the damage
including ultraviolet rays and (according to Tesla) ozone. Many physicians claimed
there were no effects form x-ray exposure at all.
The genetic effects of radiation, including the effect of cancer risk, were recognized
much later. In 1927, Hermann Joseph Muller published research showing genetic
effects, and in 1946 was awarded the Nobel Prize for his findings.
Before the biological effects of radiation were known, many physicians and
corporations began marketing radioactive substances as patent medicine in the
form of glow-in-the-dark pigments. Examples were radium enema treatments, and
radium-containing waters to be drunk as tonics. Marie Curie protested this sort of
treatment, warning that the effects of radiation on the human body were not well
understood. Curie later died from aplastic anemia, likely caused by exposure to
ionizing radiation. By the 1930s, after a number of cases of bone necrosis and death
of enthusiasts, radium-containing medicinal products had been largely removed
from the market (radioactive quackery).