BRAINCAKERadioactive Tracers
A radioactive tracer can be used to trace the path of movement of a substance through some system e.g. the movement of blood through blood vessel, food through the digestive system, water through a system of pipes.
In order to do this, the source must be stable but decay quickly enough to be made safe after use and system.
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Key terms in this lesson
- half-life
- The average time taken for the number of nuclei of a radioactive isotope in a sample, or its activity, to halve.
- activity
- The number of nuclei of a radioactive isotope that disintegrate per second, measured in becquerels.
More in Radioactivity
- Radioactive Decay
- Decay Constant
- Radiocarbon dating
- Argon Dating
- Thickness monitoring and Engine Wear
- Power Sources
- N-Z Graph
- Decay Series
All 25 lessons in Radioactivity · All OCR A-level Physics topics