Radioactive isotopic techniques

Cook. A.M. and Hiitter, R. Ametryne and prometryneas sulfur sources for bacteria. Appl Environ. Microbiol, 43(4) 781 -786,1982. Cooley. R.A. and Banks, H.O. The aqneous solubility of hafnium oxide by the radioactive isotope technique. J. Am. Chem. Soc, 73(8) 4022, 1951. 

Also present in the first test tube is a synthetic analog of ATP in which both the 2 and 3 hydroxyl groups have been replaced by hydrogens This compound is called 2 3 dideoxyadenosme triphosphate (ddATP) Similarly ddTTP is added to the second tube ddGTP to the third and ddCTP to the fourth Each tube also contains a primer The primer is a short section of the complementary DNA strand which has been labeled with a radioactive isotope of phosphorus ( P) When the electrophoresis gel is examined at the end of the experiment the positions of the DNAs formed by chain extension of the primer are located by a technique called autoradiography which detects the particles emitted by the P isotope... 

Plutonium (Pu) is an artificial element of atomic number 94 that has its main radioactive isotopes at 2 °Pu and Pu. The major sources of this element arise from the manufacture and detonation of nuclear weapons and from nuclear reactors. The fallout from detonations and discharges of nuclear waste are the major sources of plutonium contamination of the environment, where it is trapped in soils and plant or animal life. Since the contamination levels are generally very low, a sensitive technique is needed to estimate its concentration. However, not only the total amount can be estimated. Measurement of the isotope ratio provides information about its likely... 

The diffusion coefficients of cations in metal oxides are usually measured through the use of radioactive isotopes. Because of the friable nature of oxides it is exU emely difficult to use the sectioning technique employed for metal samples. The need for this can be avoided by the application of radioisotopes which emit radiation having a well established absorption law in matter. Isotopes which emit y radiation are very useful when the cation has a relatively high diffusion coefficient because of the long-range peneU ation of y rays. The absorption law is... 

The neutron activation technique mentioned in the preceding paragraph is only one of a range of nuclear methods used in the study of solids - methods which depend on the response of atomic nuclei to radiation or to the emission of radiation by the nuclei. Radioactive isotopes ( tracers ) of course have been used in research ever since von Hevesy s pioneering measurements of diffusion (Section 4.2.2). These techniques have become a field of study in their own right and a number of physics laboratories, as for instance the Second Physical Institute at the University of Gottingen, focus on the development of such techniques. This family of techniques, as applied to the study of condensed matter, is well surveyed in a specialised text... 

In addition to the 4 stable isotopes sulfur has at least 9 radioactive isotopes, the one with the longest half-life being which decays by activity (Kmax 0.167 MeV, 87.5 d). can be prepared by Cl(n,p), S(n,> ) or S(d,p) and is commercially available as SeicmcQt H2S, SOCb and KSCN. The radiation has a similar energy to that of C ( mav 0.155 MeV) and similar counting techniques can be used (p. 276). The maximum range is 300 min in air and 0.28 mm in water, and effective shielding is provided by a perspex screen 3-10 mm thick. The preparation of many - S-containii compounds has been... 

This technique is based upon the detection of corrosion products, in the form of dissolved metal ions, in the process stream. A thin layer of radioactive material is created on the process side of an item of plant. As corrosion occurs, radioactive isotopes of the elements in the construction material of the plant pass into the process stream and are detected. The rate of metal loss is quantified and local rates of corrosion are inferred. This monitoring technique is not yet in widespread use but it has been proven in several industries. 

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a technique for the qualitative and/or quantitative determination of atoms possessing certain types of nuclei. Bombarding a sample with neutrons transforms some stable isotopes into radioactive isotopes measuring the energy and/or intensity of the gamma rays emitted from the radioactive isotopes created as a result of the irradiation reveals information on the nature of the elements in the sample. NAA Is widely used to characterize such archaeological materials as pottery, obsidian, chert, basalt, and limestone (Keisch 2003). 

For these reasons, since the pioneering work of Libby the measurement technique used has been different from mass spectrometry and has exploited the characteristics of the process of the radioactive decay. From the law of radioactive decay, the activity of a sample, namely the number of decays per unit time, is proportional to the number of radioactive isotopes (i.e. their concentration in the sample). Indeed, by differentiation, Equation (16.1) becomes ... 

During the past several years exciting advances have taken place in radioactive dating techniques—advances which have made it possible to determine unusually small isotope ratios and to determine the radioisotopic composition of individual chemical fractions and particle size fractions of extremely small samples. 

Tracer studies in which chemically similar species are studied on the basis of containing a radioisotope are discussed in Chapter 10. It is fairly obvious that, with detection techniques readily available for the measurement of non-radioactive isotopes, the principle can be extended to non-radioactive systems. Where in vivo studies are concerned there are clear safety reasons for so doing. Although some progress is being made in this direction, it is... 

For many of the analytical techniques discussed below, it is necessary to have a source of X-rays. There are three ways in which X-rays can be produced in an X-ray tube, by using a radioactive source, or by the use of synchrotron radiation (see Section 12.6). Radioactive sources consist of a radioactive element or compound which spontaneously produces X-rays of fixed energy, depending on the decay process characteristic of the radioactive material (see Section 10.3). Nuclear processes such as electron capture can result in X-ray (or y ray) emission. Thus many radioactive isotopes produce electromagnetic radiation in the X-ray region of the spectrum, for example 3He, 241Am, and 57Co. These sources tend to produce pure X-ray spectra (without the continuous radiation), but are of low intensity. They can be used as a source in portable X-ray devices, but can be hazardous to handle because they cannot be switched off. In contrast, synchrotron radiation provides an... 

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