NUCLEAR

RADIATION
BY: SAIRAM
Get Ready to Nuke Your Brain with
Knowledge
 Who Discovered
Radioactivity?
• Antoine Henri Becquerel

• Worked with uranium.

• Noticed phosphorescence
caused film exposure
after leaving uranium in
the sun.
• Noticed same thing
happened on cloudy
days.
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Who’s the Famous “Madame”
of Radiological Fame?
Marie Curie
• With her husband
Pierre, discovered
radium and coined
the term
“radioactive”
• First woman to
win two Nobel
Prizes

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Pierre and Marie Curie
• Extracted two previously
unknown and highly
radioactive elements from
pitchblende named:

• RADIUM
• POLONIUM

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 Why Are Elements Radioactive?
Unstable nucleus:

• Has excess energy.

• Wants to go to
state.”

• Becomes stable by
emitting ionizing
radiation.
Wh 5
at
Atomic Structure

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 Nucleus

• Contains positively-charged
protons
• Non-charged neutrons

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 Electrons
• Orbit nucleus
• An atom can have as many
electrons as it has protons

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 The Search for Stability

•An atom is stable based on it’s

proton to neutron ratio
•If there are too many or too few
neutrons or protons, the atom will
give off excess energy as:
•Rays
•Particles
•This process is known as
Radioactive Decay

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 What is Radiation?
RADIATION IS
ENERGY IN
MOTION
• As either particles or
rays
• Two kinds: ionizing
and non- ionizing
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10 11
Ionizing Radiation
• The energy given off by the nucleus
is called ionizing radiation
• It is strong enough to detach
an electron from an atom
– When an atom loses an electron, it
has a positive charge and is called an
ion
– The ion and its lost electron are called
an
• ion pair

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 Radioactive Decay
• When an atom’s nucleus
gives off excess energy,
the process is called
radioactive decay
• Radioactive half-life is
the time it takes half
the radioactive atoms
present to decay

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• Radioactive decay is a spontaneous process in
which nucleons are emitted from or
transformed within the nucleus, resulting in a
change in the identity of the nucleus, and
usually accompanied by the emission of one
or more types of radiation from the nucleus
and/or atom.

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 Nuclear Waste
• Plutonium, caesium, strontium, and
other radioactive elements created in
a nuclear reactor emit dangerous
radiation that can literally knock
electrons off the atoms of our cells,
disrupting or destroying cell function
or even causing cells to mutate into
cancer cells.
• Radioactive elements emit radiation
because they are unstable; they’d
rather be something else.
• They achieve this by going to pieces;
emitting particles and waves billions
of times per second. This process is 15
16
 What is a Half-Life?
• Every radioactive element has a
half-life
• Half-life is the time it takes for
half of its atoms to decay.
• Half-lives range from a fraction
of a second to billions of years –
4.5 billion for uranium 238.
• The longer the half-life, the less
intense the radiation.
• After 10 half-lives, an element
is usually harmless

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NOW LETS LOOK AT…

TYPES OF
IONIZING
RADIATION
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 Alpha Particle
• Large mass
• Consists of 2
protons and 2
neutrons
• Electrical charge of
+2
• Range in air 1 to 2
inches 18
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 ALPHA SHIELDING
• A sheet of
paper
• Outer layer
of skin

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 Biological Hazard
Alpha radiation is not an
external hazard,
because it can be
stopped so easily
If inhaled or swallowed,
the alphas emitted from
an alpha emitter, can
deposit large amount of
energy in a small area of
body tissue
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Sources of Alpha Radiation
• Plutonium
238 and 239
• Uranium 238
and 235

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Beta
Particle -
ß
• Small mass
• Electrical charge of -1
• Emitted from nucleus
• Range in air about 10 feet

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 Beta Shielding
• Beta has a limited penetrating ability because
of its negative charge
• Most beta particles can be shielded by plastic,
glass, metal foil, or safety glasses

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 Biological
Hazard

• If ingested or inhaled, a beta-emitter can be

an internal hazard
• Externally, beta particles are potentially
hazardous to the eyes and skin

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Beta Sources
• Uranium decay products
• Decay of some radioactive substances
(Tritium)
• Products of the fission process

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Gamma and X-Rays
• An electromagnetic
wave or photon, which
has no electrical charge
• Great penetrating
power
• Range in air easily
several hundred feet
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Gamma and X-Ray
Shielding
• Concrete
• Lead
• Steel

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 Biological
Effects
Mechanisms of
Injury
Ionizing Radiation

Cell Damage

Repair Transformation
Cell Death

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 Radiation Dose
Dose or radiation dose is a generic term for a
measure of radiation exposure. In radiation
protection, dose is expressed in millirem.

External Dose
After

X-Ray Machine
Image (film)
Subject is not radioactive but
has been exposed to a radiation
dose (single chest x ray = 5-10
mrem).
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 Contaminat
ion
Contamination is the presence of a radioactive
material in any place where it is not desired,
and especially in any place where
its presence could be harmful.

Yuck!

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Radiation Detection
Instruments

Photo by Karen Sheehan

Photo by Carl Tarantino

Geiger Counter Liquid Scintillation Counter

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Minimizing Radiation Exposure

Basic Concepts
• Time
• Distance
• Shielding

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Minimizing Exposure -
Time
• Minimize the
amount of time
spent near sources
of radiation.

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Minimize
Exposure by
Maximizing
Distance

As the distance from a radioactive

source doubles, the exposure
rate decreases by a factor of four.
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Minimizing Exposure By
Using
Shielding
Lead blanket
shielding around
letdown radiation
monitors

Surry Power Station

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 ADVANTAGES OF
NUCLEAR RADIATON

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 Power
Generation
Nuclear power
supplies 20 percent
of energy in the
United States. There
are 104 nuclear
power plants in the
United States.
Photo by Karen Sheehan

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 Space
Exploration
The fuel in:
• Satellites
• Jupiter Probe
• Others

Jupiter Probe

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X-Ray Machines

Photos by Karen Sheehan

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 Nuclear
Medicine
Diagnostic Procedures

• Radioactive injection
• Short half-life radionuclide
• Pictures taken with special
gamma camera
• Many different studies:
Thyroid
Lung
Cardiac
White
Blood Photo by Karen Sheehan

Cell
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 NOW LETS LOOK AT SCIENTISTS WHO
CONTRIBUTED TO NUCLEAR RADIATION

WELCOME TO THE HALL OF FAME!

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HALL OF FAME!
• Henri Becquerel (1852 – 1908)
Discovered radioactivity
•
James Chadwick (1891 – 1974)
Proved the existence of the neutron
• Marie and Pierre Curie (1867 – 1934 and 1859 –
1906, respectively)
Discovered Radium and Polonium
• Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
Developed theory about relationship of mass and
energy 43
HALL OF FAME!
• Otto Hahn (1879 – 1968)
Discovered nuclear fission
• Victor F. Hess (1883 – 1964)
Discovered cosmic rays
• Ernest Rutherford (1871 – 1937)
Father of nuclear physics: named and characterized
alpha, beta and gamma particle
• Joseph John Thomson (1856 – 1940)
Discovered the electron

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 LINKS AND VIDEOS TO REFER
• WHAT IS NUCLEAR RADIATION
• IONIZING RADIATION
• RADIATION BASICS
• ADVANTAGES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY
• WHAT IS HALF-LIFE
• NUCLEAR RADIATION (Video)
• USES OF NUCLEAR RADIATION(Video)
• STABLE AND UNSTABLE NUCLEI (Video)
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THANK YOU
HOPE YOU ENJOYED

DID YOU GET

NUKED BY
KNOWLEDGE?