Radioactive isotopes, or radioisotopes, are species of chemical elements that are produced through the natural decay of atoms. Exposure to radiation generally is considered harmful to the human body, but radioisotopes are highly valuable in medicine, particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
What is a isotope in biology?
(I-soh-tope) A form of a chemical element in which the atoms have the same number of protons (part of the nucleus of an atom) but with a different number of neutrons (part of the nucleus of an atom). For example, carbon 12, carbon 13, and carbon 14 are isotopes of carbon.
How are isotopes used in biological research?
Biochemical assays are used to detect the presence and absence of radioisotopes. Therefore radioactive isotopes are used to label biological molecules. Such assays estimate the concentration of different constituents of plasma, body fluids, urine, blood etc. This technique is called radioimmuno-assays.
How isotopes can be used in biological research and medicine?
Radioisotopes are an essential part of medical diagnostic procedures. In combination with imaging devices which register the gamma rays emitted from within, they can be used for imaging to study the dynamic processes taking place in various parts of the body.
How are isotopes used in medicine?
Medical isotopes are used by medical professionals to diagnose and treat health conditions such as heart disease and cancer. The production of medical isotopes is achieved by using two overarching technologies: nuclear reactors, and particle accelerators (linear accelerators, cyclotrons).
What are isotopes give its two applications?
- An isotope of Uranium (i.e. Uranium-235) is used as a fuel in a nuclear reactor.
- An isotope of cobalt (i.e. cobalt-60) is used in the treatment of cancer.
- An isotope of iodine (i.e. iodine-131) is used in the treatment of goiter.
Are isotopes beneficial or harmful to living organisms?
Radioactive isotopes can be dangerous to living things. They can also cause damage to equipment such as electronics. Radioactive isotopes are not always dangerous, though. Some only give off tiny amounts of radiation.
What are the 5 uses for isotopes?
What are the five applications of isotopes? Radioactive isotopes have applications in agriculture, food processing, pest control, archaeology, and medicine.
How can we benefit from isotopes?
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.
Why are radioactive isotopes useful in biological studies?
Radiation in radioisotopes is useful in treating certain types of illnesses, particularly cancerous tumors. Cesuim-137 and Cobalt-60 are both used to shrink the size of tumors within the bodies of cancer patients. Cobalt-60 is also used to sterilize medical instruments.
What are 3 isotopes used in medicine?
The most common radioisotopes used in the medical industry are Technetium-99m, Iodine-131, and Molybdenum-99. 85% of all nuclear medical examinations use Mo/Tc generators for diagnosing problems with the liver, bones, or lungs [6].
What are the uses of isotopes in medicine and 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.
How are isotopes used in agriculture?
Radioisotopes are used as a research tool to develop new strains of agricultural crops that are drought and disease resistant, are of higher quality, have shorter growing time and produce a higher yield.
What is an isotope give 2 Significance of isotopes?
Isotope → Isotopes are atoms with the same number of protons, but differ in numbers of neutrons. Isotopes are different forms of a single element. Example – Carbon 12 and Carbon 14 are both isotopes of carbon, one with 6 neutrons and one with 8 neutrons. Was this answer helpful?
Why are isotopes hazardous?
When a person inhales or ingests a radioisotope, it is distributed to different organs and stays there for days, months, or years, delivering a steady radiation dose, until it decays or is excreted (committed dose). effects: hair loss, skin burns, nausea, gastrointestinal distress, or death (Acute Radiation Syndrome).
Why is it important that radioisotopes used in diagnostic tests have short half lives?
It is important that radioisotopes used in diagnostic tests have short half-lives because it minimizes the harmful side effects of the radiation.
How does an isotope become radioactive?
If the ratio of neutrons to protons becomes too large or the atomic number is above 83 an isotope will be radioactive. According to the theory, If the ratio of neutrons to protons more than one, or becomes too large, the isotope is radioactive or the atomic number is above 83, the isotope will be radioactive.
How are isotopes used in industry?
Radioisotopes are used by manufacturers as tracers to monitor fluid flow and filtration, detect leaks, and gauge engine wear and corrosion of process equipment. Small concentrations of short-lived isotopes can be detected whilst no residues remain in the environment.
Which isotope is used to detect tumors?
Abstract. By tests using radioactive iodine combined with diiodofluorescein, the site of tumors was correctly determined in 61 per cent of 39 cases of tumors of the cerebral hemispheres.
Where are isotopes used?
Different chemical forms are used for brain, bone, liver, spleen and kidney imaging and also for blood flow studies. Used to locate leaks in industrial pipe lines…and in oil well studies. Used in nuclear medicine for nuclear cardiology and tumor detection. Used to study bone formation and metabolism.
How are isotopes used in pest control?
Isotopes are used as tags or markers, for instance, of chemical molecules, insects, or plants. For example, with these tags one can follow the fate of insecticides within insects and the environment; the incorporation of nutrients into the insect; and the movements of insects under field conditions.
What are 3 examples of isotopes?
Examples of radioactive isotopes include carbon-14, tritium (hydrogen-3), chlorine-36, uranium-235, and uranium-238. Some isotopes are known to have extremely long half-lives (in the order of hundreds of millions of years). Such isotopes are commonly referred to as stable nuclides or stable isotopes.
How are isotopes used in archeology?
Archaeologists use isotopic analysis to determine population movements and diets from chemical signatures in ancient human remains. The teeth on this skull from ancient Greece indicates that the individual suffered from high fevers as a child.
Why do atoms have isotopes?
Neutrons exist to stabilize the nucleus – without them, the nucleus would consist of nothing but positively-charged protons in close proximity to one another. Because there are different ways of stabilizing the protons, there are different isotopes.
What are the properties of isotopes?
Chemical properties of different isotopes are nearly identical. However, physical properties of isotopes such as mass, melting or boiling point, density, and freezing point are all different. The physical properties of any isotope are primarily determined by its mass.