Smoke alarms

Team brief:
1. Which radioactive source would you use in fire alarms and why?
2. Why does flapping a tea towel under the alarm work when you
burn toast?

The radioactive particles emitted from the

source ionise the air inside the fire alarm.

The ionised atoms are attracted towards

either the positive or negative plates creating
a current.

When the current flows, the alarm doesn’t

beep.

When smoke gets into the the air gap, the

smoke particles slow down the ions. This
means that the current across the gap
decreases.

The alarm beeps when the current drops

below a certain level.
 Tracers to diagnose medical conditions
Team brief:
1. Which radioactive source would you use in patients to detect
medical conditions and why?
2. What is the radioactive isotope attached to when detecting
tumours and why?

Radioactive materials are used to diagnose medical conditions without the need for
surgery.

A radioactive isotope is attached to molecules/drugs that get taken up by particular

organs in the body.

The tracer can be injected into the bloodstream or organ of interest. It could also be
swallowed or inhaled.
Tracers to diagnose medical conditions pg 2

Tracers injected into the bloodsream can

be used to find sources of internal
bleeding

Tumours can be detected by attaching the radioactive

isotope to glucose molecules.

This works because cancer cells are highly active so they

use glucose faster than other cells.

The brighter the area on the scan, the higher the amount of
radioactively tagged glucose.

The radioactive isotopes used in all medical tracers need to have a short half-
life so that other parts of the body are affected as little as possible.

This means that they lose their radioactivity quickly and so must be made
close to the hospital. They are often used within hours or even minutes of
production
 PET scans
Team brief:
1. Which type of radiation is injected?
2. Which type of radiation is detected by the PET scanner?
3. What does ‘PET’ stand for? (research)

Tracers that decay in a way that emits

positrons can be used to detect some
medical conditions.

A positron is the exact opposite of an

electron. It is a type of ‘anti-matter’

When matter and anti-matter (electron and positron) meet, they ‘annihilate’
each other.

Both the electron and the positron are destroyed and 2 gamma rays are
emitted in opposite directions.
PET scans

The radioactive isotopes used in all medical tracers need to have a short half-
life so that other parts of the body are affected as little as possible.

This means that they lose their radioactivity quickly and so must be made
close to the hospital. They are often used within hours or even minutes of
production

The PET scanner moves around the patient, detecting where the different
amounts of radiation are coming from

http://www2.lbl.gov
/abc/wallchart/chap
ters/13/2.html
 Controlling material thickness
Team brief:
1. Which radioactive source would you use to control paper
thickness and why?
2. What radioactivity detection equipment is used for the
equipment and on the workers?
3. Explain what is detected and what the rollers do if the paper is
too thick.

Paper is made by squeezing wood pulp between rollers. The rollers squeeze the wood
pulp with a force that produces the desired thickness of paper.

This method is also used to make other sheet materials such as plastics, aluminium foil
and sheet steel.

If too much radioactivity

is getting through, then
the paper is too thin.

The rollers are

automatically signaled to
separate slightly to make
the paper thicker.
 Sterilising food
Team brief:
1. Which radioactive source would you use to sterilise a large pile
of plastic-wrapped food and why?
2. What does radioactivity do that kills bacteria and invading
insects?
3. Why is it important to kill bacteria and invading insects?

All foods contain microorganisms that

eventually cause them to decompose.

Some bacteria also cause food

poisoning. Irradiating food kills bacteria
by damaging their DNA.

The food does not become radioactive.

Sterilising food

Irradiated foods are safer to eat and last longer.

Invading insects and pathogens can severely affect food chains and damage ecosystems.
 Finding leaks
Team brief:
1. Which radioactive source would you use to find leaking
underground water pipes and why?
2. Why is it important that the tracer doesn’t last a long time?

Radioactive tracers (radioactive isotopes that will decay in a predictable way) can be
added to water to detect leaks in underground water pipes.

When there is a leak, water flows into the surrounding earth.

A G-M tube can be used to follow the course of the water pipe and detect higher
levels of radiation where there is a leak.
 Sterilising surgical equipment
Team brief:
1. Which radioactive source would you use to sterilise large
amounts of medical equipment and why?
2. Why can some equipment not be treated with high heat to kill
microorganisms?
3. Why should the equipment be irradiated when it is already
inside a sealed bag?

Surgical instruments need to be

sterilised to kill microorganisms. The
usual method is to heat the instruments
under high pressure (this is called
autoclaving).

Some instruments such as plastic

syringes cannot be sterilised using heat,
they are sealed into bags and irradiated.
 Treating cancer
Team brief:
1. Which radioactive source would you use to treat a brain tumour
and why?
2. Why are patients kept away from other people while being
treated with internal radiotherapy?
3. What does radiotherapy do to the cancer cells to kill them?

Cancer cells divide more rapidly than most other

cells in the body. Cancer cells have a cell cycle
that is out of control – there are no brakes.

Cancer cells enter mitosis and divide more

rapidly than they should and than the cells
around them. This makes then susceptible to
chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.
Radiotherapy kills the cancer cells by damaging their
DNA. The cancer cells become so mutated and
damaged that they commit suicide or get stuck hen
they try to divide again.

Internal radiotherapy: Beta-emitting radioactive

isotopes are placed inside the body, within or close
to the tumour.

The patient stays in a room alone whilst the source is

in place.

Most radiotherapy is external

radiotherapy. A beam of
radioactive rays, are directed at the
tumour from outside of the body.

To make brain tumour targeting

really accurate, patients may have
to be fitted with personalised
masks that are bolted to the bed.

Multiple low strength beams are precisely directed at the tumour from different
directions. They cross so the tumour cells absorb most of the energy and the
surrounding tissues are harmed as little as possible.

Patients often feel like the areas the radiation is targeted towards become hot. If
a patient receives too high a dose, they can end up with serious burns.