Radioactive Decay and Uses

Question	Answer
What do the numbers on a chemical symbol represent?	- Top number - mass number - Bottom number - atomic number (proton number)
How is an alpha particle represented?	⁴₂α or ⁴₂He
How is a beta particle represented?	⁰₋₁β or ⁰₋₁e
What happens to the mass and atomic numbers during alpha decay?	- Mass number decreases by 4 - Atomic number decreases by 2
What happens to the mass and atomic numbers during beta decay?	- Mass number stays the same - Atomic number increases by 1
What is half-life?	The time taken for half of the radioactive nuclei to decay
Give a use of alpha radiation and how it works	Smoke alarms - alpha radiation ionises air particles to allow a current to flow. When smoke is present, the current drops and the alarm sounds
Give a use of beta radiation and how it works	Thickness monitoring - if too many particles get through the paper or foil, the rollers apply less pressure and vice versa
Give a use of gamma radiation and how it works	Medical tracers - a patient injects or swallows the source, and its movement is measured by external detectors

Resource summary

	Created by Sarah Collinson about 8 years ago