Hazards and uses of radioactive emmissions

• what is background radiation?

  • natural source of radiation which has always been around
  • due to radioactive elements existing on earth and in space
• what are specific sources of background radiation?

  • rocks
  • cosmic rays
  • some foods
• what are man made sources of radiation?

  • increase the background radioactivity
  • include; exposure from medical testing, fall out from nuclear weapons etc
• what is the dosage of radiation for a person measured in?

  • Sv
  • seiverts
• what would 1 seivert cause

  • extreme radiation sickness
• what causes differences in radioactivity exposure

  • some locatoins and areas have more background radiation as they are closer to sources
  • some people may work with radioactive sources
• what is the UK health limit for radioactive doseage per year

  20 mSv
• what does it mean if a nuclei has a short half life?

  • it decays quicker
  • it gives off more radiation in a shorter amount of time
• what does it mean for a nucleus to have a long half life

  • it gives off less radiation in a longer amount of time
  • higher risk of contamination
  • may be buried underground to reduce risk of it contamininating the environment
• what is a medical tracer?

  • radioactive isotope which can track the movement of substances around the body
  • usually gamma emitters are used for this as they are highly penetrating
• why is gamma chosen for medical tracing?

  • less ionising so less damage done to the body
• what is radiotherapy?

  • treatment of cancer using radiation
  • the radiation kills the living cells which kills the cancerous tumor cells
• how is radiation used to sterilise medical equipment

  • uses gamma radiation - penetrating
• what are the risks of using radiation in medicine

  • can kill living healthy cells
  • can cause cancer
  • can cause cell mutations
  • it should thereofre be kept to a minimum exposure