Isotopes Used in Medicine, Agriculture and Industry

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Isotopes used in medicine, agriculture and industry Medicine: Radioactive isotopes are used in diagnosis as radioactive tracers or in scanning. Isotopes used as such include chlorine151 used for scanning the spleen, iodine131 used for scanning the lungs and thyroid, technetium99 used for scanning the bones and lungs, cobalt60 used for radiation treatment of cancers. Agriculture: Radioactive isotopes are used in the agricultural industry as tracers in plants. Radioisotopes are added to fertilisers in small but known quantities. The uptake of the fertiliser can be measured by the researcher measuring how radioactive a plant has become. This technique is largely a research tool without practical application on farms. Examples of isotopes used for this purpose include phosphorous32 and nitrogen15. Engineering: Applications of radioactive isotopes in engineering are varied but mainly centre around smoke detection, using the shielding capacity of a structure or component to measure its thickness. This concept is based on the idea that shielding from radioactivity is increased with greater thicknesses of material in a predictable manner. Another way of using radioactive isotopes themselves in machinery components is to use the rate of radioactive decay from the machine to predict the wear of non-visible radioactive parts. Some uses involve measuring the radioactivity of lubricants that are in contact with machinery that is itself radioactive. As the machine wears the lubricant becomes contaminated with radioactive material. Measuring the radioactivity of the lubricant indicates the amount of wear. Radioisotopes used in measuring the thickness of materials include cobalt60 and iridium190. Americium241 is used in smoke
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