Ch. 35 Biomedical Phy.23

Faculty of Medecin
Biophysics (M 1029)
Chapter 35
PRODUCTION OF IONISING
RADIATION
Prof. Dr. Khalil Thabayneh
Hebron University - Palestine
35.2. Nuclear Decay Processes
Decay – General Rules
♥ When one element changes into another element, the
process is called spontaneous decay‫اضمحال ل(انحال )ل ت لقائي‬
or transmutation‫تحول تلقائي‬
♥ The sum of the mass numbers, A, must be the same on both
sides of the equation
♥ The sum of the atomic numbers, Z, must be the same on
both sides of the equation
(a) Alpha Decay
♥ When a nucleus emits an alpha particle it loses two protons
and two neutrons
– N decreases by 2, Z decreases by 2, A decreases by 4
♥ Symbolically X  AZ42Y  42 He
A
Z
– X is called the parent nucleus
– Y is called the daughter nucleus
Ex. Decay of 226 Ra
226
88 Ra  Rn  He
222
86
4
2
♥ Half life for this decay is 1600 years

♥ Excess mass is converted into
kinetic energy
♥ Momentum of the two particles
is equal and opposite
Another examples
and 212
Bi  208 Tl  4
2 He
90 Th  2 He
U  230 92
4 234
83 81
(b) Beta Decay
♥ During beta decay, the daughter nucleus has the same
number of nucleons as the parent, but the atomic number is
changed by one.
♥ The emission of the electron is from the nucleus
– The nucleus contains protons and neutrons
– The process occurs when a neutron is transformed into a
proton and an electron 
Z X Z 1Y  e
A A
– Energy must be conserved

A
Z X Y e
A
Z 1
♥ As a result of beta decay, the nucleus has one less

neutron, but one extra proton.
■ β - decay
• β – decay occurs when a neutron decays and a proton is created, with
the accompanying emission of a β – particle and an antineutrino,
symbol νe . The antineutrino is the antiparticle of the neutrino, and
the bar over the ν indicates that it is an antimatter particle ‫جسيمات‬
‫مضادة‬. The β – particle is just an electron. The process responsible for
β – decay is the transformation of a neutron into a proton, a process
mediated by the weak nuclear force.
• The neutrino is a particle from the same group of fundamental

particles as the electron (the group called the leptons).
• The generic equation for β - decay of Z AX is
• An example of β decay is the decay of caesium-137

■ β + decay
• β + decay is the conversion of a proton into a neutron. Unlike β – decay
energy is required for the process and so it happens only inside a
nucleus where the energy is available, and comes from the creation of
a daughter nucleus that is more tightly bound. Free protons are stable.
• In β + decay, a proton in the nucleus decays, creating a neutron a β +
particle and a neutrino. The β + particle is the antiparticle of the
electron, and is also known as the positron, e+
■ Electron capture‫ا==ألسر ا =ال=لكتروني‬
• Electron capture is essentially the reverse of β− decay.
Instead of a neutron transforming into a proton and a β−
particle (i.e., an electron), a nuclear proton captures ‫ ي أسر‬an
orbiting electron and transforms into a neutron. This is
alternative to β+ decay, as it is also results in a
proton → neutron conversion, but by a different route ‫مسار‬
‫مختلف‬.
• The generic equation for electron capture by ZAX is
(c) Gamma Decay
♥ Gamma rays are given off when an excited nucleus “falls” to a lower
energy state
– Similar to the process of electron “jumps” to lower energy states
and giving off photons
– The photons are called gamma rays, very high energy relative to
light
♥ The excited nuclear states result from “jumps” made by a proton or
neutron
♥ The excited nuclear states may be the result of violent‫عنيف‬collision or
more likely of an alpha or beta emission.
♥ Nuclear transition from an excited state to a lower energy state
♥ Nuclear excited state can be created by particle collision or as a result
of nuclear decay.
• The generic equation for γ decay of = ZAX∗ is
Z
A
X *
 Z
A
X  
Examples of a decay sequence
– The first decay is a beta emission
– The second step is a gamma emission
12
5 B C *  e 
12
6

12
6C* C  
12
6
• The C* indicates the Carbon nucleus is in an excited ‫مثارة‬

state
• Gamma emission doesn’t change either A or Z.
• Nuclei in excited states are generally indicated by the
symbol ‘*’ as in ZAX∗. Another commonly used notation is
Am
X where the ‘m’ indicates that this is a relatively long
Example 35.1 page 374
• Yttrium-90 is used in radioisotope therapy to treat various
neuroendocrine tumors ‫ أورام ا لغ دد ا لصم ا لعصبية‬. Yttrium-90
decays into zirconium-90 as shown in the following decay
scheme
What are XA and XB?

Solution: The atomic number has increased during the decay,
indicating that a neutron has decayed into a proton, and
expelled an electron and an antineutrino
35.3. Activity and Half-Life
(a) Activity
Activity is the measure of the rate of decay ‫ اضمحال ل(انحال )ل‬of a
radioactive sample. The SI unit of activity is the Becquerel
(Bq), with 1 Bq being equivalent to one decay per second.
1Ci = 3.7×1010 Bq
• The theory of radioactive decay depends on one fact:
“The number of atoms which decay in a given time is
proportional to the number of atoms present at the
beginning of that time.”
• Nuclear decay is an essentially random process: we cannot
accurately predict‫ ا لتنبؤ ب دقة‬when a given unstable nucleus
will decay. However, we can determine the probability that a
nucleus will decay within a given time period.
♥ The number of particles that decay in a given time is
proportional to the total number of particles in a radioactive
sample: dN = -λ N dt
• λ is called the decay constant
♥ Separating variables and integrating from t = 0 (when N =
N0) to time t, we have: N dN t
 N0 N
    dt
0
N
 e   t or N  N 0 e  t
N0
♥ So we can write for the ratio of activities at time t to that at
t0 = 0 N t
 e
N 0
A = λN = Ao e- λt
♥ The decay curve follows the
equation
N = No e- λt
Which is called the radioactive
decay law.
No is the number of parent
nuclei at t = 0
N is the number of nuclei at
any time t
Decay constant (λ) For an
exponential decay process, the rate at
which the quantity decreases is
proportional to the quantity, then the
constant of proportionality being the
decay constant
(b) The half-life and the Activity
Half-life (T1/2) The time taken for half the unstable particles
in a pure sample to decay. Also the time taken for the
activity of a sample to halve. ln 2 0 .6 9 3
T1 2  
 
♥ The product λN is the activity and written as:
A = λN = λ No e- λt
♥ The expectation value of the time needed for an initial
population of N0 radioactive nuclei to decay to 1/e of their
original number is called the mean life (average life):
1
Averagelife time tav 

♥ The relation between average lifetime and half life is
1 T1/ 2
t av    1.44T1/ 2
 0.693
Yttrium-90, which featured in Example 35.1, has a half-life of
64 h. A sample of 90Y has an activity of 2.5×107 Bq when
first measured.
(a) What is the decay constant for 90Y ? (in s-1)
(b) How many atoms of 90Ymust be in the sample initially?
(c) What will the activity of the sample be after 256 h?
(d) What fraction of the atoms of 90Y will be left in the sample
after just 1 hour?
35.4. X-ray Production
• X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths that
are below about 10 nm. The production of X-rays is an
atomic process, not a nuclear one.
• There are two key processes which are used to generate
X-rays:
(1) Electronic transitions into inner shells (Characteristic
Radiation):
• The X-ray photons produced by electronic transitions to
tightly bound inner shell orbitals. The transitions occur after
the removal of an inner shell electron, usually by collision
with an externally produced fast electron. The photon
energies produced are characteristic of the target atom.
• The energy levels of an atom are labelled by several quantum
numbers which give all the essential information about the
energy, angular momentum etc. of the electron in that
particular orbital. The orbitals corresponding to principal
quantum number n = 1, 2, 3 and 4 are traditionally labelled
the K, L, M and N orbitals. We will use these letters to label
the radiation produced by transitions to those particular levels,
along with a Greek letter subscript. For example, transitions
from the L shell (n = 2) to the n = 1 level are labelled Kα. Kβ
radiation is produced by transitions
from the M shell to the K shell.
Transitions to the n = 2 level are
labelled Lα, Lβ . . . The K and L
transitions are illustrated
schematically in Figure 35.3.
(2) The deceleration of fast-moving free electrons
(Bremsstrahlung‫)ا==إلشع=اع ا =النكباحي‬
♥ The continuum X-ray radiation produced by the braking of
fast-moving electrons when they interact with matter.
♥ When fast-moving charged particles are decelerated and
lose kinetic energy, this lost energy can be emitted in the
form of electromagnetic radiation. This process is known
as bremsstrahlung. If the charged particles are sufficiently
fast, the highest-energy radiation will lie in the X-ray
region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The combination
of these two processes produces an X-ray spectra.
♥ If the electron loses all of its kinetic energy in the collision,
the initial energy of the electron is completely transformed
into a photon.
♥ The short wavelength cutoff λ0 ( ‫)متقطع‬can be found from:
C
K  e V  h f  h

C
e V  h f 0  h
 0
h C c o n st.
 0  
e V V
 6
1 .2 4 X 1 0
or 0 
V
where v in volts and λo in meters.
Ex.: What is the shortest wavelength
that can be produced by a 30000 volt x- ray tube?
A thermionic X-ray tube accelerates electrons over a
potential of 100 kV into a tungsten target. What is the
minimum X-ray wavelength produced by this tube?
Problems page 383

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Faculty of Medecin

♥ Half life for this decay is 1600 years

♥ As a result of beta decay, the nucleus has one less

• The neutrino is a particle from the same group of fundamental

• An example of β decay is the decay of caesium-137

• The C* indicates the Carbon nucleus is in an excited ‫مثارة‬

What are XA and XB?

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