Radioactivity

Chapter 23
 Learning Objectives
• Describe the detection of α-particles, β-particles
and γ-rays (β + are not included: β-particles will
be taken to refer to β-)

• Discuss the random nature of radioactive emission

• Identify α, β and γ-emissions by recalling
• – their nature
• – their relative ionising effects
• – their relative penetrating abilities (β+ are not
included, β-particles will be taken to refer to β–)
 Background radiations
• Background radiations are the radiations that
are always present around us in the
environment.

• Background radiations originate from a variety

of sources, both natural and artificial.
 Natural sources of radioactivity
• Air contains radioactive gas called Radon which comes
from underground rocks containing radioactive
uranium.
• Ground (sand,soil and rocks) contains radioactive
materials which we use in buildings.
• Plants absorb radioactive materials from the soil and
these pass up the food chain therefore, our food and
drinks are also radioactive.
• Atmosphere contains cosmic rays - radiation that
reaches the Earth from space
 Artificial sources of Radioactivity
• A small amount of
radioactive radiations
comes from artificial
sources, such as medical
procedures (including X-
rays and gamma rays).

• Radiation from Nuclear

Power stations
• Radioactive waste from
nuclear power stations
 Sources of
Background
radiations
in percentage
 What is Radioactivity
• The spontaneous emission of Alpha, Beta and
Gamma particles from the nuclei of some
unstable elements.

Why some nuclei emit raditions?

An unstable nucleus emits radiations to gain

stability.
 A Random process
• Radioactive decay is a random process.
• Random means it occurs without definite
reason, or pattern.
• We can't predict when the next atom will
decay.
• We can't predict which sample of atom is going
to decay next.
 Discovery of Radioactivity
• Henri Becquerel in 1896 discovered radioactivity accidently.
• He was using naturally fluorescent minerals to study the
properties of x-rays
• He exposed naturally fluorescent minerals containing
uranium to sunlight on his window and then placed it on
photographic plates wrapped in black paper, believing that
the uranium absorbed the sun’s energy and then emitted it
as x-rays.
• His idea was disproved on the 26th-27th of February 1896,
when his experiment "failed" because it was overcast in
Paris.
• To his surprise, the images were strong and clear even on
cloudy day without any external source of light such as sun,
proving that the uranium emitted radiation.
• Becquerel had discovered radioactivity. Later, he tested the
radioactive substance using Magnetic field.
 Detecting radiations
There are two method of detecting
radioactive raditions.
1. Using photographic film 2. Using Geiger counter
Book questions
Radioactive decay process
The three types of radiation

Alpha α

Beta β

Gamma γ
 Properties of Alpha
 A helium nucleus, consisting of
two protons and two neutrons.
 A relative charge of +2.
 A high mass compared with
beta particles.
 Speed up to 0.1 x speed of
Alpha α light
 Strong ionizing effect
 Not very penetrating
(stopped by paper, or skin, or a
few centimetres of air
 Deflected by magnetic and
electric fields
 Properties of Beta particles
 Each beta particle is an
electron.
 A relative charge of -1.
 A low mass compared with
alpha particles.
Beta β  Speed up to 0.9 x speed of
light
 Weak ionizing effect.
 Penetrating, but stopped by
a few millimetres of
aluminium or other metal.
 Deflected by magnetic and
electric fields
 Properties of gamma radiation
 Not particles, but
electromagnetic waves and
part of the electromagnetic
spectrum.
 No charge.
 No mass
Gamma γ  Travel at the speed of light
 Very weak ionising effect.
 Very strongly penetrating –
intensity reduced by lead and
thick concrete, but never
completely stopped.
 Not deflected by magnetic or
electric fields
Comparison of three particles
 Ionizing effect
Ionizing effect = ability to remove electrons from
atoms in its path. (These atoms then become ions).

Gamma γ

Beta β
Alpha α
 Penetrating effect

Alpha α Stopped by paper or skin, or a few

centimetres of air
Stopped by a few millimetres of
Beta β
aluminium or other metal.

Stopped by lead and thick

Gamma γ concrete, but never completely.
 Effect of Electric field on three types
of radiations

+++++++++
β

γ
α
----------

α particles – positively charged, so deflected in the direction of the

negative terminal
β particles – negatively charged, so deflected in the direction of the
positive terminal
γ particles – no charge, so not deflected by magnetic or electric fields.
Effect of Magnetic field on three types
of radiations
Checkpoint
 Working principle of Geiger counter
1. Radiation (dark blue) is moving about
randomly outside the detector tube.
2. Some of the radiation enters the
window (gray) at the end of the tube.
3. When radiation (dark blue) collides with
gas molecules in the tube (orange), it
causes ionization: some of the gas
molecules are turned into positive ions
(red) and electrons (yellow).
4. The positive ions are attracted to the
outside of the tube (light blue).
5. The electrons are attracted to a metal wire (red) running down the in
of the tube. As the electrons move towards wire, some of them collide
with other gas molecules, splitting them into ions and more electrons.
So we get a kind of chain reaction in which even a single particle of
radiation can produce avalanches of electrons in rapidly.
Can geiger counter detect gamma radiations?

Geiger counters are widely used to detect gamma

radiation and X-rays collectively known as photons.
However, detection efficiency is low compared to
alpha and beta particles.
 What is half-life?

Half life of a radioactive susbtance

is the average time taken for the
half of the atoms in a sample to
decay.
• Decay pattern of all the
radioactive substances is same.
• Initially, the amout of radioactive
substance decreases rapidly, and
then more and more slowly.
 Activity, The rate of decay

• Activity is the number of atoms that decay each second.

• The SI unit for activity is one decay per second and is given the
name becquerel (Bq) in honor of the discoverer of radioactivity.
1 Bq = one decay per second.
 Activity dependence

Activity of a source to depend on two things:

The amount of the radioactive substance present, and its half-life.
• The greater the number of radioactive nuclei present in the sample, the
more will decay per unit of time.
• The shorter the half-life, the more decays per unit time, for a given
number of nuclei.
• So activity should be directly proportional to the number of radioactive
nuclei and inversely proportional to their half-life.
 What is radioisotope

• Radioisotopes are radioactive isotopes of an element

• A radionuclide is an atom that has excess nuclear
energy, making it unstable.
• This excess energy can be used in one of three ways:
• emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation;
transferred to one of its electrons to release it as a
conversion electron; or used to create and emit a
new particle from the nucleus
Question:
A radioactive source has a half-life of 15 minutes.

At a particular time the activity of the source is 16 kBq. What is the activity of
the source one hour later?
Question:
A radioactive source has a half-life of 15 minutes.

At a particular time the activity of the source is 16 kBq. What is the activity of
the source one hour later?
Solution:
In order to calculate the activity of the source one hour later you need to
take the following steps:

1 hour = 60 minutes

60 minutes = 4 x 15 minutes = 4 half-lives

Activity after 1 half-life = 16 x 0.5 = 8 kBq

Activity after 2 half-lives = 8 x 0.5 = 4 kBq

Activity after 3 half-lives = 4 x 0.5 = 2 kBq

Activity after 4 half-lives = 2 x 0.5 = 1 kBq

Activity of the radioactive source 1 hour later = 1 kBq

Checkpoint
Radioactive decay
 Measuring half life

• Protactinium has half life of

70 seconds.
• It emits Beta raditions.
• Arrangement in figure 23.12 is
use to measure the half life.
• The count rate after every 10
seconds is noted and a graph
is plotted against number of
count vs time.
• The half life can be deduced
from decay graph.
 Irradiation and Contamination
• Irradiation is the process of exposing a material to alpha,
beta or gamma radiation.
• Irradiating a material will not make that material
radioactive, regardless of how strong the radiation is or
how long the material is exposed for.
• The only way a material can become radioactive is if that
material becomes contaminated.
• Contamination is where small amounts of the radioactive
isotope leak onto the material. As a result of this, the small
amounts of isotope in the contaminated areas will give off
radiation.
 Checkpoint
Every half-minute a teacher records a count rate of a radioactive
substance. The background count was 3Bq. Calculate the
corrected count rate and draw a graph for these results.
Use your graph to estimate the half-life of the material

Time in Count Corrected

minutes rate in count rate
Bq in Bq
0 52
0.5 33
1.0 27
1.5 21
2.0 18
2.5 14
3.0 13
3.5 12
4.0 8
4.5 9
Every half-minute a teacher records a count rate of a radioactive
substance. The background count was 3Bq. Calculate the
corrected count rate and draw a graph for these results.
Use your graph to estimate the half-life of the material

Time/ Count Corrected

minutes rate/ count rate/
Bq Bq 50 x
Original count = 49
45

Corrected count rate/ Bq

0 52 49 40
0.5 33 30 35 x
1.0 27 24 30
Half of original count = 24.5
1.5 21 18 25 x
20 x
2.0 18 15
15 x
2.5 14 11 xx
10
3.0 13 10 x
5 Half-life = 1 min
3.5 12 9 0
4.0 8 5
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
4.5 9 6
Time /minutes
 smoke detector
• Some types of smoke detectors contain a
radioactive isotope that emits alpha particles.
• The alpha particles ionise air inside the
detector, allowing a small current to flow
within it.
• But when smoke enters the detector the
alpha particles are absorbed and the current
no longer flows – triggering the alarm.
• The radioactive isotope poses no harm to
people as alpha particles have a very short
range and are unable to penetrate through
the casing of the detector