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 Form 4 Chemistry: Radioactivity online lessons

Applications and uses of radioactivity

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Answer Text:
APPLICATION AND USES OF RADIOCTIVITY.
-The following are some of the fields that apply and use radioisotopes;
a)Medicine: -Treatment of cancer to kill malignant tumors through radiotherapy.
-Sterilizing hospital /surgical instruments /equipments by exposing them to gamma radiation.
b) Agriculture: If a plant or animal is fed with radioisotope, the metabolic processes of the plant/animal is better understood by tracing the route of the radioisotope.
c) Food preservation: X-rays are used to kill bacteria in tinned food to last for a long time.
d) Chemistry: To study mechanisms of a chemical reaction, one reactant is replaced in its structure by a radioisotope e.g.
During esterification the ‘O’ joining the ester was discovered comes from the alkanol and not alkanoic acid.
During photosynthesis the ‘O’ released was discovered comes from water.
e) Dating rocks/fossils:
The quantity of 14C in living things (plants/animals) is constant.
When they die the fixed mass of 14C is trapped in the cells and continues to decay/disintegrate. The half-life period of 14C is 5600 years .
Comparing the mass of 14C in living and dead cells, the age of the dead can be determined.


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