Radiation Questions - Radioactivity Past Paper PDF

1. Which type of radiation is equivalent to a helium nucleus? * A) Alpha (α) * B) Beta (β) * C) Gamma (γ) * D) Positron 2. What is the charge of a beta particle? * A) +2 * B) +1 * C) 0 * D) -1 3. Which type of radiation has the highest penetrating power? * A) Alpha (α) * B) Beta (β) * C) Gamma (γ)...

1. Which type of radiation is equivalent to a helium nucleus? * A) Alpha (α) * B) Beta (β) * C) Gamma (γ) * D) Positron 2. What is the charge of a beta particle? * A) +2 * B) +1 * C) 0 * D) -1 3. Which type of radiation has the highest penetrating power? * A) Alpha (α) * B) Beta (β) * C) Gamma (γ) * D) They all have the same penetrating power 4. Which type of radiation has the highest ionising power? * A) Alpha (α) * B) Beta (β) * C) Gamma (γ) * D) They all have the same ionising power 5. What happens to the atomic number during alpha decay? * A) Increases by 2 * B) Decreases by 2 * C) Stays the same * D) Decreases by 1 6. What happens to the mass number during beta decay? * A) Increases by 1 * B) Decreases by 1 * C) Stays the same * D) Decreases by 4 7. What happens to the atomic number during Positron decay? * A) Increases by 2 * B) Decreases by 2 * C) Stays the same * D) Decreases by 1 8. What happens to the atomic number during electron capture? * A) Increases by 2 * B) Decreases by 2 * C) Stays the same * D) Decreases by 1 9. Which of the following equations is an example of alpha decay? * A) 60Co27 → 60Ni28 + 0e-1 * B) 13N7 → 13C6 + 0e+1 * C) 40K19 + 0e-1 → 40Ar18 * D) 210At85 → 206Bi83 + 4He2 10. Which of the following equations is an example of beta decay? * A) 60Co27 → 60Ni28 + 0e-1 * B) 210At85 → 206Bi83 + 4He2 * C) 14C6 → 14N7 + 0e+1 * D) 238U92 → 234Th90 + 4He2 11. What is the de nition of half-life? * A) The time it takes for a radioactive substance to completely decay. * B) The time it takes for the radioactivity of a substance to halve. * C) Half the time it takes for a radioactive substance to decay. * D) The time it takes for the mass of a radioactive substance to halve. 12. If the half-life of a radioactive isotope is 10 hours, what fraction of the original sample will remain after 20 hours? * A) 1/2 * B) 1/4 * C) 1/8 * D) 1/10 fi 13. If a radioactive sample has been through 4 half-lives what fraction of the sample would be left? * A) 1 * B) 1/4 * C) 1/8 * D) 1/16 14. 90Sr38 has a half life of 27 years. How many half lives has it been through after 54 years? * A) 0.5 * B) 1 * C) 2 * D) 4 15. If the half-life of a substance is 5 days, and you start with 100g, how much will remain after 15 days? * A) 50g * B) 25g * C) 12.5g * D) 6.25g 16. Americium-241 is used in smoke detectors because: * A) it is highly penetrating * B) it is a beta emitter * C) it is an alpha emitter with a long half-life. * D) it has a very short half-life. 17. Iodine-131 is used to treat thyroid cancer because: * A) It emits gamma radiation. * B) It has a long half-life. * C) It emits beta radiation and has a short half-life. * D) It emits alpha radiation. 18. Carbon-14 is used in carbon dating because: * A) it has a short half life. * B) It emits gamma radiation. * C) It emits beta radiation, is present in all living organisms and has a long half-life * D) it emits alpha radiation. 19. Technetium-99 is used in medical imaging because: * A) It emits gamma radiation and has a short half-life. * B) It emits beta radiation. * C) It emits alpha radiation. * D) It has a very long half-life. 20. Which type of radiation is most dangerous *inside* the body? * A) Alpha (α) * B) Beta (β) * C) Gamma (γ) * D) They are all equally dangerous. 21. Ionising radiation is dangerous because it: * A) Heats up cells * B) Causes cells to explode * C) Damages DNA, potentially causing mutations * D) Makes cells shrink 22. Exposure to radiation can lead to: * A) Increased hair growth * B) Improved eyesight * C) Radiation burns * D) Stronger bones 23. Which factor(s) determine how dangerous a radiation source is? * A) Its color * B) Its state of matter (solid, liquid, gas) * C) Its ionizing power and penetrating power * D) Its smell 24. Krypton-85 is used in measuring thickness of metal sheets because: * A) It emits gamma radiation. * B) It has a very short half life. * C) It emits beta radiation and has a reasonably long half-life * D) It is an alpha emitter 25. How is an electric eld used to distinguish between alpha, beta and gamma radiation? fi * A) Alpha particles are attracted to the positive plate, Beta particles are attracted to the negative plate. * B) Alpha particles move faster than Beta particles. * C) Beta particles are heavily attracted to the negative plate, Alpha particles are slightly attracted to the positive plate. * D) Alpha particles are slightly attracted to the negative plate, Beta particles are signi cantly attracted to the positive plate and gamma radiation is not affected. fi