Applications and Effects of Nuclear Reactions

Nuclear reactions have many useful applications, but they also have harmful biological effects. 

Real-World Reading Link Almost everyone gets cuts or scrapes from time to time. Usually, the first thing you do is clean the injury and cover it with a bandage to keep out germs. One of the many uses of radiation is to sterilize medical bandages. 

O Reading Check Summarize how a scintillation detector works. 

Because the CO2 containing carbon-14 is used to trace the progress of carbon through the reaction, it is referred to as a radiotracer. A radiotracer is a radioisotope that emits non-ionizing radiation and is used to signal the presence of an element or specific substance. The fact that all of an elements isotopes have the same chemical properties makes the use of radioisotopes possible. Thus, replacing a stable atom of an element in a reaction with one of its isotopes does not alter the reaction. Radiotracers are important in a number of areas of chemical research, particularly in analyzing the reaction mechanisms of complex, multistep reactions. 

Radiotracers also have important uses in medicine. Iodine-131, for example, is commonly used to detect diseases associated with the thyroid gland. If a problem is suspected, the patient will drink a solution containing a small amount of iodine-131. After the iodine is absorbed, the amount of iodine taken up by the thyroid is measured and used to monitor the functioning of the thyroid gland. 

With proper safety procedures, radiation can be useful in industry, in scientific experiments, and in medical procedures. A radiotracer is a radioisotope that emits non-ionizing radiation and is used to signal the presence of an element or of a specific substance. Radiotracers are used to detect diseases and to analyze complex chemical reactions. 

Any exposure to radiation can damage living cells. Gamma rays are very dangerous because they penetrate tissues and produce unstable and reactive molecules, which can then disrupt the normal functioning of cells. The amount of radiation the body absorbs (a dose) is measured in units called rads and rems. Everyone is exposed to radiation, on average 100-300 millirems per year. A dose exceeding 500 rem can be fatal. 

Solving Problems A Chemistry Handbook Chemistry Matter and Change 261 

Relate nuclear slability to an atom s size and its neutron-to-proton ratio. 

Which radioactive decay processes increase the neutron-to-proton ratio of a nucleus Which process decreases the neutron-to-proton ratio  

As you learned in the previous section, using nuclear fission reactions to generate electrical power is an important application of nuclear chemistry. Another very important application is in medicine, where the use of radioisotopes has made dramatic changes in the way some diseases are treated. This sechon explores the detection, uses, and effects of radiation. 

You learned earlier that Becquerel discovered radioactivity because of the effect of radiahon on photographic plates. Since this discovery, several other methods have been devised to detect radiation. The effect of radiation on photographic film is the same as the effect of visible light on the film in your camera. With some care, film can be used to provide a quantitative measure of radioactivity. A film badge is a device containing a piece of radiation-sen-sihve film that is used to monitor radiation exposure. People who work with radioactive substances carry film badges to monitor the extent of their exposure to radiation. 

Another detection device is a scinhllahon counter, which uses a phosphor-coated surface to detect radiahon. Scintillations are bright flashes of light 

The Geiger counter is used to detect and measure radiation levels. The small device is usually hand-held. Ionizing radiation produces an electric current in the Geiger counter. The current is displayed on a scaled meter, while a speaker is used to produce audible sounds. 

Q Phosphors are used to aid in the night time readabiiity of watches. 

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One hundred years after the discovery of radioactivity and fifty years after the dawn of the nuclear age, society continues to debate the benefits and costs of nuclear technology. Understanding nuclear transformations and the properties of radioactivity is necessary for intelligent discussions of the nuclear dilemma. In this chapter, we explore the nucleus and the nuclear processes that it undergoes. We describe the factors that make nuclei stable or unstable, the various types of nuclear reactions that can occur, and the effects and applications of radioactivity. 

Chapter 4 describes how the electrical nature of corrosion reactions allows the interface to be modeled as an electrical circuit, as well as how this electrical circuit can be used to obtain information on corrosion rates. Chapter 5 focuses on how to characterize flow and how to include its effects in the test procedure. Chapter 6 describes the origins of the observed distributions in space and time of the reaction rate. Chapter 7 describes the applications of electrochemical measurements to predictive corrosion models, emphasizing their use in the long-term prediction of corrosion behavior of metallic packages for high-level nuclear waste. Chapter 8 outlines the electrochemical methods that have been applied to develop and test the effectiveness of surface treatments for metals and alloys. The final chapter gives experimental procedures that can be used to illustrate the principles described. 

Nuclear reactions may lead to stable or unstable (radioactive) products. In general, (n, y), (n, p), and (d, p) reactions give radionuclides on the right-hand side of the line of p stability that exhibit decay, whereas (p, n), (d,2n), (n, 2n), (y, n), (d, n) and (p, y) reactions lead to radionuclides on the left-hand side of the line of p stability that exhibit p decay or electron capture (e). (n, y), (d, p), (n, 2n) and (y, n) reactions give isotopic nuclides, and these cannot be separated from the target nuclides by chemical methods, except for the application of the chemical effects of nuclear transformations which will be discussed in chapter 9. 

The chemical effects observed after neutron irradiation of ethyl iodide have found great practical interest, because they allow general application to various compounds and chemical separation of isotopic products of nuclear reactions. Above all, isotopic nuclides of high specific activity can be obtained by Szilard-Chalmers... 

You will learn about applications of nuclear reactions and the effects of radiation exposure. 

Nuclear chemistry is the study of nuclear reactions, with an emphasis on their uses in chemistry and their effects on biological systems. Nuclear chemistr) affects our lives in many ways, particularly in energy and medical applications. In radiation therapy, for example, gamma rays from a radioactive substance such as cobalt-60 are directed to cancerous tumors to destroy them. Positron emission tomography (PET) is one example of a medical diagnostic tool that relies on decay of a radioactive element injected into the body. 

Radioactivity The ability possessed by some natural and synthetic isotopes to undergo nuclear transformation to other isotopes, 513 applications, 516-518 biological effects, 528-529 bombardment reactions, 514-516 diagnostic uses, 516t discovery of, 517 modes of decay, 513-514 nuclear stability and, 29-30 rate of decay, 518-520,531q Radium, 521-522 Radon, 528 Ramsay, William, 190 Random polymer 613-614 Randomness factor, 452-453 Raoult s law A relation between the vapor pressure (P) of a component of a solution and that of the pure component (P°) at the same temperature P — XP°, where X is the mole fraction, 268... 

There have been numerous applications of continuum models to equilibria and reactions in solution surveys of these and extensive listings are provided by Cramer and Truhlar.16 Other studies have focused upon the effects of solvents upon solute molecular properties, such as electronic and vibrational spectra,16 dipole moments, nuclear quadrupole and spin-spin coupling constants and circular dichroism.12... 

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