Al- faruq secondary school

Physics
Radioactivity
Assignment

Prepared by: farah khadaad

Prepared by : farah yasin (f.khadaad)

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Multiple questions
1. Protactinium has a half-life of 70 s. A sample of protactinium is prepared and monitored over a period
of time. Which of the following statements is correct?
a) The activity of the protactinium will be zero after 140 s.
b) The activity of the protactinium will be 25% of its initial value after 140 s.
c) The activity of the protactinium will be 12.5% of its initial value after 280 s.
d) The activity of the protactinium will never become zero.
2. A sample of radioactive element X decays into a stable element Y. Which graph shows the rate of
formation of element Y, RY with time, t?
a) b)

c) d)

3. A radioactive source is placed 2 cm from a detector. The count rate decreases slightly if a sheet of
paper is placed between the source and the detector. It is reduced to background radiation level when
the paper is replaced with a 1 cm thickness of aluminum.
The correct conclusion is that the source emits
a) Alpha radiation only.
b) Alpha and beta radiation.
c) Beta and gamma radiation.
d) Gamma radiation only.
4. The diagram shows radiation from a radium source approaching a persons arm.
A Geiger-Muller tube on the other side of the arm detects radiation.

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 The radiation detected is substantially less than would be detected without the arm in position. This
is because the

a. The bone is absorbing - radiation

b. The muscles is absorbing alpha radiation
c. The muscles is absorbing -radiation
d. The skin is absorbing -radian
5.
A Type of radiation Reason
B - radiation it is the most ionizing
C - radiation it is the most massive
D -radiation it can penetrate up to a metre of air
E -radiation it can penetrate the skin and enter the body

6. The diagram shows the path of moving charged particle in an electric field the angle of deflection will
increase if

a. The charged particle caries greater charge.

b. The charged particle moves with higher speed.
c. The charged particle has larger mass.
d. The deflection is wrong
7. An unstable nuclide, X decays to become a nuclide Y, by emitting an alpha particle, which of the
following is true about the change of its proton and nucleon number?

Proton Nucleon number

A +2 +4
B -2 -4
C +1 Remain uncharged
D -1 Remain and charged

8. V Equation below shows the beta decay of atom X , the increase of proton number after decay is due
to

a) Presence of new proton in the nucleus from the disintegration of a neutron

b) Creation of proton from the nuclear energy produced
c) The proton absorbed from a nearby nucleus

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 d) Destruction of a neutron in the process
9. has a half-life of 5730 years how many grams of a 4.0 g sample would be left after 3.5 half-lives?
a) g
b) 0.50 g
c) 0.38 g
d) 0.35 g

10. A small amount of a radioactive isotope contains 72 billion unstable nuclei. The half-life of the isotope
is 4 hours.
How many unstable nuclei would remain after 12 hours?
a) 6 billion
b) 9 billion
c) 18 billion
d) 24 billion
11. A Geiger counter detects radiation from radioactive sources. A radioactive source is inside a thick
aluminum container as shown

Which type of radiation from this source is being detected?

a) Alpha particle
b) Beta particle
c) Y-particle
d) Radio wave

Structural questions
1) Ionization smoke detectors contain a small amount of the radioactive isotope americium-241 Am is an -
emitter. It has a half-life of 432 years, and the activity from the source in a new smoke detector is about
3.5 104 Bq.
a. Explain why the radiation produced by a smoke detector does not pose a health hazard.



b. Complete the nuclear equation for the decay of americium.

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2) The figure below shows a stream of -particles about to enter the space between the poles of a
very strong magnet

Describe the path of the -particles in the space between the magnetic poles.

3) The radioactive isotope carbon-14 undergoes decay with a half-life of 5730 years. While an organism is
living, it takes in carbon from the atmosphere and the ratio of carbon-14 to the stable isotope carbon-12
in the organism is constant. After death the ratio changes, as the carbon-14 continues to decay but no
more carbon is taken in. This is the basis of radiocarbon dating.
Archaeologists have used radiocarbon dating to pinpoint the date of construction of Stonehenge, an
ancient stone circle in south west England. The archaeologists unearthed dead organic material from
under the stones and sent a sample of it to Oxford University for analysis. Scientists at the university
determined that the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in the sample was only 60% of that found in living
organisms.
a. Explain what is meant by a radioactive isotope.

b. Radioactive decay is a random process. Explain what this means.

c. Calculate the decay constant of carbon-14 and hence the time since Stonehenge was
constructed.






4) The diagram represents the fusion of deuterium, D, and tritium, T, to form helium,He.
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 a) Complete the nuclear equation to represent the fusion of deuterium and tritium to form helium.

.....
b)

5) The final four stages of the naturally occurring thorium-232 decay series are shown. The series ends with
a stable isotope of lead,

a. What are isotopes?

b. Write down the symbol for the unstable isotope of lead which is part of the series shown.

c. Complete the table to show the missing information.

6) A radioactive substance has half-life of 6 hours, how long will it take for it takes for its mass to become
1/16 of its original mass?

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7) After 24.0 days, 2.00 milligrams of an original 128.0 milligram sample remain. What is the half-life of the
sample?




8) A sample of Se-83 registers 1012 disintegrations per second when first tested. What rate would you
predict for this sample 3.5 hours later, if the half-life is 22.3 minutes?





9) The half-life of a radioactive substance is 250 years. If you start with some amount of this substance,
a. what fraction will remain in 70 years?




..
b. what fraction will remain In 1500 years?





10) The diagram shows how the thickness of paper is measured during a manufacturing process.

If the sheet is too thick, fewer beta-particles can reach the detector.

b) Explain, why a source of alpha-particles is not used for this purpose ?

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 .
....
11) Fig. 10.1 is the decay curve for a radioactive isotope that emits only -particles

Use the graph to find the value of the half-life of the isotope.
Indicate, on the graph, how you arrived at your value
half-life
...

12) Marie Curie had a 765g sample of polonium-210 (half life = 138d) in a box. After 3.8 years of
refining radium, she goes to the box to get her polonium. Determine how much polonium-210
is in the box.




.
....

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End
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