Radiation

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  • Created by: syaqub18
  • Created on: 18-04-15 17:18
what is radioactive decay?
when an unstable atom breaks down in to a more stable atom by releasing energy and/or particles
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why cant radioactive decay be predicted?
because decay is random
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what are the four types of nuclear radiation?
alpha, beta-minus, beta-plus and gamma
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what is one atomic mass (u) unit?
1.661 x 10^-27 kg or the mass of a proton/neutron
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what are the constituents, mass and charge of alpha radiation?
a helium nucleus (2 protons and 2 neutrons), +2 charge and 4u mass
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what are the constituents, mass and charge of beta-minus radiation?
an electron, -1 charge and mass is negligble
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what are the constituents, mass and charge of beta-plus radiation?
a positron, +1 charge and mass is negligible
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what are the constituents, mass and charge of gamma radiation?
short wavelength, high frequency electromagnetic wave, 0 charge and 0 mass
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what is the penetration power of alpha radiation?
absorbed by paper or few cm of air
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what is the penetration power of beta-minus radiation?
absorbed by about 3m of aluminium
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what is the penetration power of gamma radiation?
absorbed by many cm of lead or several metres of concrete
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what is the penetration power of beta-plus radiation?
nothing because they are annihilate with electrons almost instantly so effectively have zero range
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how can you set up an experiment to identify different types of radiation?
get a radioactive source, use different materials to absorb the radiation, use a geiger-muller tube collect the radiation behind the absorber, connect the geiger-muller tube to a geiger-muller counter to get counts per second
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how else can you set up an experiment to identify different types of radiation without using a geiger-muller counter?
use a magnetic field, pass a stream of radiation perpendicular to the magnetic field, charged particles will experience a circular path, gamma radiation wont be affected because it doesn't have any particles
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what is meant by ionising radiation?
radioactive particles can knock out electrons from an atom creating an ion
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what is the ionising power and speed of alpha radiation?
strongly ionising and speed is slow
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what is the ionising power and speed of beta-minus radiation?
weakly ionising and speed is fast
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what is the ionising power and speed of gamma radiation?
very weakly ionising and speed is very fast
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what is background radiation?
low levels of radiation which is always present
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how can you minimise the effects of background radiation?
take 3 or more readings using a geiger-muller tube with no radioactive source present, take an average , subtract with value from each measurement you take of radioactive source's count
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what are some sources of background radiation?
the air because it has radon gas released from the rocks, the ground and buildings because nearly all rocks contain radioactive material, living things as they are made from carbon and some will be carbon 14
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why should you keep radioactive substances an arms length away when dealing with them?
to minimise the radiation reaching you
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

why cant radioactive decay be predicted?

Back

because decay is random

Card 3

Front

what are the four types of nuclear radiation?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

what is one atomic mass (u) unit?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

what are the constituents, mass and charge of alpha radiation?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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