Uses of Radiation

Cyclotrons/Particle Accelerators

Cyclotron accelerate particles to bend them into circular paths.

• A voltage placed across a gap between to D-shaped magnets.
• the particle (ion or proton) enters the particle accelerator.
• the alternating current of the two magnets causes the particle to be attracted to one and repelled by the other then swapped and attracted to the one it was once repelled by.
• the path of the particle spirals outwards as the alternating current speeds up, each time it moves at 90 degree angle.

Radioisotopes

To create a radioisotope a proton is accelerated into the nucleus of an element. This causes the nucleus to become unstable and then is a different element as the proton number increases.

These are now used in hospitals to produce isotopes with a short half-life for use in PET scanners. This ensures that the radioisotopes does not decay before use.

CERN

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is located at CERN in Geneva., where they conduct experiments in particle physics. This is an example of a cyclotron. The LHC accelerates two beams of protons or ions to very high speeds in opposite directions and allow them to collide head on. They do this due to E=mc  . As they increase the kinetic energy of the particle, it becomes  more massive so they will have a higher probability of colliding.

Benefits of CERN

• 100 countries joined together means shared knowledge, expertise.
• Brings together countries and creates alliances.
• Shared work force and skills.
• The collaboration shares the cost of experiments.

Certifying Results

The experiment will be repeated by tthe scientist and other scientists will repeat the experiments. Results will be published in science journals, however they will be evaluated.