radioactive tracers
TRANSCRIPT
Radioactive Tracers
Nuclear Science does not always fit together like pieces of a puzzle…
In fact a piece is often
missing.
Nuclear Science does not always fit together like pieces of a puzzle…
and when we are in need of
finding
the missing piece…
checking
Or of
that the pieces are fitting together…
We may use
RADIOACTIVE TRACERS
What are radioactive tracers?
They are substances that contain a radioactive atom.
To stabilize its unstable nucleus, it spontaneously emmits energy and particles.
Radioactive tracers allow easier detection and measurement
What are they used in?
Medicine
Industry
Industry
Nature
and in many other fields
In all these fields, radioactive tracers are used to monitor chemical processes
and to track movement or concentration of a substance, through a natural cell or tissue.
In medicine
They can detect
diseases or...
health problems
They can detect
diseases or...
Specific Experimen
ts
When a person ingests the element iodine, that element goes largely to
the thyroid gland located at the base of the throat.
There, the iodine is used in the production of various hormones
that control essential body functions.
Suppose that a physician suspects that a person's thyroid gland is not
functioning properly, to investigate that possibility, the patient can be given a glass of water containing
sodium iodide.
The iodine in the sodium iodide is radioactive. As the patient's body takes up the sodium iodide, the path of the compound through
the body can be traced by means of a Geiger counter or some other
detection device.
The physician can determine whether the rate and location of
uptake is normal or abnormal and, from that information, can
diagnose some problems with the patient's thyroid gland.
In Industry
Radioactive tracers may be used to detect whether or not constructions
are intact.
Specific Experimen
ts
A number of different oil companies may take turns
using the same pipeline to ship their products
from the oil fields to their
refineries.
How do companies A, B, and C all know when their oil is
passing through the pipeline?
One way to solve that problem is to add a radioactive tracer to the
oil. Each company would be
assigned a different tracer.
A technician at the receiving end of the pipeline can use a Geiger
counter to make note of changes in radiation observed in the
incoming oil.
Such a change would indicate that oil for a different company
was being received.
In Nature
Specific Experimen
ts
It is possible to monitor plant growth
by watering plants with a radioactive
tracer that acts like water.
The plants take up the radioactive tracer and use it in leaves,
roots, stems, flowers, and other parts; in
the same way it does with normal water.
In this case, it would be possible to find out how
fast the water moves into any part of the plant by passing a Geiger counter at
regular intervals.
Risks
By having radioactive tracers inserted into the human body it increases the possibility of the radioactive substance to hit the nucleic acid, also known as DNA in cells.
If so happens, a cell’s RNA may fail to arrive to the ribosomes or may
be misunderstood.
It may happen that the cell commits suicide and nothing happens, but…
It may happen that the cell commits suicide and nothing happens, but…
in the worst of cases, the cell starts to duplicate in a disorderly way causing a tumor.
This may happen in nature as well, and in
industry when exposed too much to radioactive
tracers, they may cause severe damage.
Doctors try to avoid radioactive
tracers if not exclusively
needed.
To get rid of the radioactive tracer in a patient’s body, the individual has to wait for the radioactive substance to half itself again
and again, a process called half life.
Half life can sometimes take quite a long time, although doctors always try to use substances that have a relatively quick
half life.
Recent science discoveries have made it possible for less radioactive tracers to be used by utilizing instead, fluorescent molecules.
Fluorescent molecules are not radioactive
and become visible by
projecting an ultraviolet light
on them.
SourcesDr. Ulivi
www.scienceclarified.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.absoluteastronomy.com
www.science.jrank.org
www.dictionary.babylon.com
Physical science textbook