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