What are some ways isotopes are used in agriculture?
For example, radioisotopes and controlled radiation are used to improve food crops, preserve food, determine ground- water resources, sterilize medical supplies, analyse hormones, X-ray pipelines, control industrial processes and study environmental pollution.
What is the use of radioactivity in agriculture?
In agriculture, radiation and radioisotopes are also used in the nutritional studies of trace elements, mechanism of photosynthesis, plant protection including action of insecticides, metabolisms in plant, uptake of fertilizers, ions mobility in soils and plants and food preservation.
How does radiation in agriculture work?
During this procedure, the food is exposed to doses of ionising energy, or radiation. At low doses, irradiation extends a product’s shelf life. At higher doses, this process kills insects, moulds, bacteria and other potentially harmful micro-organisms.
What are 2 ways that radioactive isotopes can be used?
Radioactive isotopes have many useful applications. In medicine, for example, cobalt-60 is extensively employed as a radiation source to arrest the development of cancer. Other radioactive isotopes are used as tracers for diagnostic purposes as well as in research on metabolic processes.
What are the uses of isotopes in daily life?
Among such prevalent uses and applications of radioisotopes are, in smoke detectors; to detect flaws in steel sections used for bridge and jet airliner construction; to check the integrities of welds on pipes (such as the Alaska pipeline), tanks, and structures such as jet engines; in equipment used to gauge thickness …
What is the importance of isotopes in agriculture?
Radioisotopes were used for producing high yielding crop seeds to increase the agricultural yield. Radioisotopes were also used for determining the function of fertilizers in different plants. Radiations from certain radioisotopes were also used for killing insects which damage the food grains.
What type of radiation is used in agriculture?
Ionising radiation to induce mutations in plant breeding has been used for several decades, and some 3200 new crop varieties have been developed in this way. Gamma or neutron irradiation is often used in conjunction with other techniques to produce new genetic lines of root and tuber crops, cereals, and oil seed crops.
How do gamma rays kill bacteria in food?
Gamma irradiation is a physical/chemical means of sterilization, because it kills bacteria by breaking down bacterial DNA, inhibiting bacterial division. Energy of gamma rays passes through the equipment, disrupting the pathogens that cause contamination.
How does radiation measure the thickness of something?
Radiation is absorbed as it passes through materials. This allows it to be used to gauge the thickness of a material by measuring the amount of radiation that passes through. This is commonly used with beta minus emitters in industry, for paper milling and the production of aluminium foil.
What are examples of radioactive isotopes?
What are some commonly-used radioisotopes?
| Radioisotope | Half-life |
|---|---|
| Hydrogen-3 (tritium) | 12.32 years |
| Carbon-14 | 5,700 years |
| Chlorine-36 | 301,000 years |
| Lead-210 | 22.2 years |
How can isotopes be used in medicine be specific )?
Diagnostic techniques in nuclear medicine use radioactive tracers which emit gamma rays from within the body. These tracers are generally short-lived isotopes linked to chemical compounds which permit specific physiological processes to be scrutinized. They can be given by injection, inhalation, or orally.
What are common sources of radiation?
Radiation Sources and Doses
- Sources of radiation.
- Background radiation.
- Uranium and thorium naturally found in the earth are called primordial.
- All of us are exposed to radiation every day, from natural sources such as minerals in the ground, and man-made sources such as medical x-rays.
What material can protect you from radiation?
This is why lead aprons and blankets are the most effective shielding material to fight off x-rays and gamma-ray. After all, lead has a very high number of protons in each atom (82 to be specific), which makes it a very dense metal shield.
What are the types of radioactive isotopes?
How an isotope is used diagnostically in medicine?
Nuclear medicine uses radioactive isotopes in a variety of ways. One of the more common uses is as a tracer in which a radioisotope, such as technetium-99m, is taken orally or is injected or is inhaled into the body. The radioisotope then circulates through the body or is taken up only by certain tissues.
How do gamma rays kill cancer cells?
At high doses, radiation therapy kills cancer cells or slows their growth by damaging their DNA. Cancer cells whose DNA is damaged beyond repair stop dividing or die. When the damaged cells die, they are broken down and removed by the body.
What wave kills bacteria on food?
ultrasound waves
“Sonication is an alternative technology that uses ultrasound waves of frequency 20,000 hertz or greater to kill bacteria in food.” He said a high frequency sound wave’s energy (vibration) is capable of shaking apart bacterial cells like an opera singer shattering wine glasses.
