PHYS 117 Lecture Notes - Lecture 71: Chemical Bond, Radium, Phosphorescence

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Physics
• Course: PHYS 117
• Professor: Anne Topper

Document Summary

Diagnosic applicaions- (ie. x-ray, nuclear medicine scan- paient is injected with radioacivity and where it is concentrated you get a dark image like the bladder or the injecion point) Radiaion can be harmful like luoroscopy burns and radiotherapy skin burns. 1896 x-ray discovered a needle in a hand. Generated using electricity in a cathode ray tube. 1896- becquerel discovered radioacivity while studying phosphorescence- uranium salts blackened a photographic plate- it was clear that a form of radiaion could make this happen- electricity was not involved in the discovery. Radioacivity refers to the ionizing paricles that are emited from an atomic nuclei- key characterisic of ionizing radiaion is penetraing power (neutrons can go through prety much everything- can be stopped by concrete) Radioacive decay is the process by which the nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy and seeks stability by emiing alpha paricles (a=a0. Quanity of radioacivity is measured in becquerel"s (one disintegraion per second) or curies (3. 7*10^10)