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PHYSICS
A rough outline

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Contents
Sparks and Ultrasound and

Electrostatics
Charging Isolators Electric Sparks Uses of Electrostatics Dangers of Electrostatics

Radiation
Ultrasound X-rays and Gamma Rays Treatment

Nuclear Physics
Radioactivity Uses of Radioisotopes

Safe Electrics
Circuits and Symbols

Resistance
Circuit Components Safety

Fission
Nuclear Waste

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SPARKS AND ELECTROSTATICS

Charging Isolators, Electric Sparks, Uses of Electrostatics, Dangers of Electrostatics

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Charging Insulators
Rubbing can charge insulators like wool, plastic and rubber There two types of charges: Positive Negative Charged insulators can attract dust, fibres and small pieces

of paper An insulator losing electrons will have a positive charge An insulator gaining electrons will have a negative charge Like charges repel and opposite charges attract A polythene rod rubbed with a duster acquires a negative charge and the duster acquires an equal but opposite positive charge The force between two charged objects are equal in size and act in opposite direction

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Electric Sparks
You will get an electrostatic shock when:
You touch something that is charged

You become charged by walking on a carpet/vinyl floor and become earthed

by touching a water pop or metal door handle

Static charges are a nuisance as they cause synthetic clothes to cling The transfer of charges between two objects creates an electric spark Electric sparks can generate high temperatures and therefore are

dangerous near inflammable gases and vapours (e.g. Refuelling aircraft) The chance of receiving an electric shock can be reduced by correct earthing, using insulating mats or wearing shoes with insulating soles The risk of electric sparks can be reduced by securing a metal strap between the object and the ground The body acts as a good conductor of small amount of charge An electric shock is safe through the body and long as it doesnt go across the heart and cause a heart attack. If it goes through the hand down the leg it is unlikely to effect you but if it goes through one hand to the other hand as both are connected to earth then it can cause heart failure

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Static Shocks Example

The existence of repulsive forces between similar charges

explains why you experience a shock if you touch an earthed conductor such as the screw on a light switch after walking across a synthetic carpet:

Synthetic carpets, for example those made of nylon, are good

insulators Charge builds up on the body when walking across the carpet due to the friction forces between shoes and the carpet The similar charges repel each other but they cannot leave the body through the carpet which is a very good insulator When the body is placed in electrical contact with the earth, electrons move between the body and the earth to discharge the body, creating a current which causes a shock
The direction of electron movement depends on

whether the body is positively or negatively charged

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Uses of Electrostatics
Some uses of static electricity include:
Defibrillators

Photocopiers
Laser printers Removing dust/soot from smoke chimneys Spray painting

A defibrillator has two charged paddles. These are used to pass a charge

through the patient to make the heart contract. The operator has to be careful not to be shocked. Good electrical contact is necessary between the patient and the paddles Electrostatic dust precipitators are used in the chimneys of coal-burning power stations. They have metal plates/grids connected to high voltage. Dust particles are attracted to the plates/grids. When the dust particles are large enough, they fall down the chimneys In spray painting the gun charged. The paint particles are repelled to produce a fine spray. The object to be painted is charged opposite to the paint. Attraction between the object and the paint ensures an even coat of paint. There is less waste in spray painting

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Dangers of Static Charge

Electrostatic charge is dangerous when it causes

lightning and sparks that can ignite fuel

When an aircraft is being refuelled with kerosene (paraffin)

and when a car is being refuelled with petrol friction forces cause charge separation
an opposite charge to the fuel

Charge separation result in the metal frame of an aircraft gaining

This could result in a build-up of static charge on the metal

frame of the aircraft or metal sleeve of the car refuelling pipe]if the voltage became high enough to cause a spark to earth, it could ignite the fuel To prevent this, the framework of an aircraft is connected to earth before refuelling and the pipe leading to the petrol tank in a car is connected to the body of the car so that the charge can spread out, preventing the build-up of charge in a small area

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SAFE ELECTRICS
Circuits and Symbols, Resistance, Circuit Components, Safety

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Circuits
A complete loop is required for an electrical circuit to

work A resistor can be used in a circuit to change the current Electric current is the rate of flow of charge In a circuit, electric current is due to the movement of electrons The size of the current for a given circuit depends on the resistance. Less resistance in a circuit means greater current and vice-versa A variable resistor can be used to change the resistance in a circuit and hence the current

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Circuit Symbols

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Resistance
Current is measured using an ammeter placed in series with a

component Current is measured in amperes (A) Voltage or potential difference (PD) is measured using a voltmeter placed in parallel with a component Potential difference in measure in volts (V) The resistance of a component is found using the following equation:

or

Resistance is measured in ohms () For a given PD, current decreases as resistance increases and

vice-versa For a given resistor, current is increased as PD increases and vice-versa

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Circuit Components
Common circuit components include resistors, lamps and diodes: The resistance of a resistor such as a metal wire does not change provided that there is no significant change in its temperature; a graph of current against voltage shows that the current is proportional to the voltage The wire in a filament lamp becomes hotter as the current in the filament increases, causing an increase in its resistance A diode only allows current to pass in one direction (shown by the direction of the arrow on its symbol)
The direction of the current is always shown as being from positive to negative

The resistance of some circuits depend on their surroundings; these

components are often found in electronic circuits used for switches and maintaining constant environmental conditions in, for example, greenhouses and incubators:
The resistance of a light-dependent resistor (LDR) decreases with

increasing light level The resistance of a thermistor decreases with increasing temperature

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Safety
A mains cable has three coloured wires:
Brown the live wire

Blue the neural wire

Yellow/green the earth wire

Charges can safely flow to the ground if a conductor is earthed Metal appliances are earthed in order to protect you from accidental shocks An earthed conductor cannot become live Double-insulated appliances have plastic casing and do not need to be

earthed The fuse is a safety device. A large current will melt the fuse and cut off the supply A fuse prevents large currents from starting a fire Circuit breakers are safety devices and can be described as re-settable fuses A fuse has to be replaced after a fault whereas circuit breakers just have to be reset

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ULTRASOUND AND RADIATION

Ultrasound, X-rays and Gamma Rays, Treatment

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Ultrasound
Ultrasound is a longitudinal wave For a longitudinal wave, the particles The frequency of a wave is the

vibrate in the same direction as the wave For transverse waves, the particles vibrate at right angles to the direction of the wave Longitudinal waves cannot travel through a vacuum Ultrasound creates regions of high pressure called compressions and regions of low pressure called rarefactions The amplitude of a wave is the maximum distance of a particle from its normal (or equilibrium) position The wavelength of a wave is the distance occupied by one complete wave

number of complete waves in one second Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) Ultrasound is used for seeing inside our bodies without surgery Ultrasound scans are used to check the condition of the foetus, breaking down kidney and other stones and measuring the speed of blood flow in the body Ultrasound is reflected by different layers of tissue Ultrasound is inaudible to the human ear Unlike x-rays, ultrasound scans can be used to produce images of soft tissues and they do not damage living cells

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X-Rays and Gamma Rays

X-rays and gamma rays have the shortest

body wavelengths and carry the most energy. Although they are only weakly absorbed by They are also penetrative of the body tissue, X-rays and gamma rays are electromagnetic waves, a property which is both ionising radiations. They can destroy useful in medical imaging. When an X-ray cells and cause mutation in the DNA. photograph is taken: Because of this:
X-rays are passed through the body and detected by a photographic plate The X-rays pass through the flesh and are absorbed by the bone A bone fracture is seem as a dark line on the white bone in an X-ray photograph

A similar technique is used to examine the

Both are used in the treatment of cancer to destroy abnormal cells Gamma rays are used to kill bacteria in food and to sterilise medical instruments People who come into contact with X-rays and gamma rays need to be protected from damaging over-exposure

turbine blades of jet engines, to check for cracks Gamma rays are useful for checking individual organs when used as a tracer. A radioactive isotope that emits gamma rays is injected into the body and when it has circulated it can be detected by a camera to give either a still or moving picture. The radioactive isotopes can be made so that they concentrate in particular areas of the

X-rays and gamma rays are produced in different ways. X-rays come from X-ray tubes and gamma rays are emitted by unstable nuclei. There is no difference in the waves

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Treatment
Some radioactive nuclei of atoms emit nuclear radiation Alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays Gamma rays and X-rays are both used in medicine for

treatment (therapy) and for finding out what is wrong (diagnosis) In radiotherapy, several gamma ray sources producing wide beams are directed towards cancerous tissues to destroy the cancer cells A radioactive tracer is a radioactive substance that is drunk or injected into the body Only beta particles and gamma rays can pass through the skin. Hence a tracer is either a beta or gamma emitter The function of some vital organs can be diagnosed using a radioactive tracer

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NUCLEAR PHYSICS
Radioactivity, Uses of Radioisotopes, Fission, Nuclear Waste

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Radioactivity
Radioactivity is to do with unstable

nuclei The nucleus of a radioactive atom emits either an alpha () particle, beta () particle and/or gamma () rays An alpha particle is a slow-moving helium nucleus ( ). It has a positive charge A beta particle is a fast-moving electron. It has a negative charge Gamma rays are short-wavelength electromagnetic waves. These have no charge and travel at the speed of light The activity of a source is the average number of nuclei decaying per second Activity is measured in Becquerel (Bq) The activity of a radioactive substance decreases with time Radioactivity is a random process because it is impossible to predict which nucleus

will decay at a particular time The half-life of a radioisotope is the average time taken for half the active nuclei to decay or disintegrate the activity of a source is directly proportional to the number of active nuclei The nucleus of an atom may be represented as , where X is the chemical symbol, A is the nucleon or mass number and Z is the proton or atomic number The protons and neutrons are also known as the nucleons In alpha decay, the mass number decreases by 4, the proton number decreases by 2 and a new radioisotope is formed In beta decay, the mass number remains the same, the proton number increases by 1 and a new radioisotope is formed

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Uses of Radioisotopes
Background radiation is always present and is due to

radioactive substances in rocks, soil, air and cosmic rays Sound background radiation comes from man-made sources
E.g. Nuclear and hospital waste

Radioisotopes are used as tracers in industry and

hospitals Gamma-emitting tracers are used to find leaks or blockages in underground pipes Smoke detectors contain an alpha emitter Carbon dating is used to date bone, cloth, wood and paper. It relies on the radioactivity isotope of carbon-14

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Nuclear Fission
Nuclear power stations use uranium as a fuel. Most of the

waste is radioactive for thousands of years Reactions produce the heat to produce steam to turn the turbines, which turn the generators to produce electricity In a fission reaction, a neutron is captured by a uranium-235 nucleus and splits into two smaller (daughter) nuclei and either two or three neutrons Energy is released when a uranium nucleus splits Materials become radioactive when they capture neutrons in a nuclear reactor In a chain reaction, the neutrons can cause further fission reactions One destructive use of fission is the atomic bomb. One peaceful use if electricity production

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The Process of Nuclear Fission

In the process of the fission of uranium-235: A uranium-235 absorbs a neutron, making it unstable It splits into two daughter nuclei, which are also unstable, and two or three spare neutrons The fission products have a lot of kinetic energy, which is removed by a coolant The coolant generates steam that turns a turbine The spare neutrons can cause further fission of other nuclei in a chain reaction If each spare neutron were allowed to cause another fission, the

result would be a chain reaction which would be out of control. To maintain the reaction at a steady rate, on average just one of the neutrons released by each fission is allowed to go on and cause further fission In the core of a nuclear reactor, control rods absorb the spare neutrons to control the rate of reaction. It is also a safety feature

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Nuclear Waste
Nuclear power has one major disadvantage which is how

to dispose of the nuclear waste. There are three main categories:

Low-level waste such as laboratory clothing and packaging

materials; these are either buried either underground or at sea Intermediate-level waste such as the casing used for nuclear fuel and reactor parts that have been replaced; these are kept in stores with thick concrete walls or buried in deep trenches with concrete linings High-level waste such as spent fuel rods; these present a longterm disposal problem since they remain significantly radioactive for thousand of years; much of this waste is in temporary storage in tank of water until the problem of what to do with it can be solved