Name:

Worksheet

Radioactivity

1 Co-60 is a radioactive isotope. Its half-life is 5 years. The detector

records a count rate of 32
counts per second. How many would it take for its count rate to fall to
a) 16 counts per second
b) 1 counts per second?
2 A radioactive sources has a half-life 20 minutes. At one instant, a
detector placed near the
source records a count rate of 4000 counts per minute. After how long is
the count rate reduced
to 250 counts per minute? Explain how you arrived at your answer?
3 Radium-224 has a half-life of 3.6 days. If the initial; count rate of a
sample of radium-224 is 800
counts per second what is the count rate of this sample after
a) 3.6 days
b) 10.8 days?
4 Radon is a radioactive element. It disintegrates with a half-life of 3.8
days. How long will it take
for the number of emissions per second of a sample of radon to be
reduced to 25% of the
original value?
5 (a) Alpha, beta and gamma are three types of radiation emitted during
radioactive decay.
(i) State the meaning of the term radioactive decay.
.
..
(ii)

Alpha radiation is described as ionising radiation.

Explain the meaning of the term ionising radiation.

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..
(b) (i) Explain why alpha radiation is deflected by an electric field but
gamma radiation is not.
.
..
(ii) Explain why beta radiation is deflected the opposite way to alpha
radiation by an electric field.

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(iii) Explain why it is more dangerous to swallow a substance that emits
alpha radiation than one
that emits gamma radiation.
.
..
(c) We are exposed to radiation all the time and we receive it in various
ways.
What name is given to the radiation that is around us all the time?
.
..

6 The pie chart in Fig. 8.1 shows the relative contributions made by
different sources to
background radiation.

(a) Which source makes the greatest contribution to the background

radiation?
...
(b) State one effect of background radiation.

(c) Where do cosmic rays come from?

.
(d) The nucleon number (mass number) of 22086Ra is 220.
Define nucleon number 220
86 Rn .

.
(e) Radon 220
decays by the emission of an alpha-particle.
86 Rn
State the proton number (atomic number) and the nucleon number
(mass number) of the
nucleus left after an alpha-particle is emitted from this nucleus.
.
7
Some atoms that undergo radioactive decay have a half-life of 6 hours.
The count rate near a
sample of these atoms is initially 838 counts/minute. Background
radiation near the sample is
18 counts/minute.
(i)

Describe the structure of an atom. It may help to draw a diagram.

.
(ii) Explain what is meant by radioactive decay. State clearly which part
of the atom decays.
.

.
(iii)

State what is meant by background radiation.

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(iv) The equipment is left undisturbed for 12 hours. Calculate the count
rate due to the sample
of atoms alone after this time.

8 a) The source emits alpha-particles, beta-particles and gamma-rays.

A teacher handles the box. Explain how the teacher is completely

protected from the alphaand beta-particles but only partially protected from the gamma-rays.
.

.
(b) Describe and explain how the teacher should remove the source from
the box safely.
.

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(c)
(i)

The source is brought near a radiation detector.

Name a suitable detector.

.
(ii) Describe how you would use the detector to show that the source
emits particles at random.
.

.
.
8
A radioactive source undergoes radioactive decay.
(a) Explain what is meant by radioactive decay.
.

.
(b) Gamma-rays from a radioactive source are used to treat some foods.
The gamma-rays kill bacteria in the food so that it stays fresh.
Some people are worried that food treated in this way becomes
radioactive. A scientist tests
three food samples. She measures the count-rate of the food before
and after treatment with
gamma-rays.
The results are shown in the table below. The radioactive source is not
present during any test.

(i)

Explain why there is a measured count-rate before the food is treated.

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(ii) Determine and explain whether the treated food becomes radioactive.
.

1 This is how the count rate from a radioactive material changed:

a) Plot the graph of count rate (side axis) against time( bottom axis.
b) How long did it take the count rate to fall from 50 to 25 counts/second?
c) How long did it take the count rate to fall from 40 to 20 counts /second?
d) What is the half-life of the material?

2 In an experiment to determine the half-life of radon-220(

following results were

220
86

Ra )the

obtained, after allowing for the background radiation count.:

a) By plotting the count rate (vertically) against the time( horizontally),
determine the half-life of
(

220
86

Ra ).Show clearly on your graph how you obtain your answer

b) (i) What is the origin of background radiation?

(ii) How is the background radiation determined?