• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

Chemistry help - two similar syllabus in Nuclear Chemistry (1 Viewer)

HeyJes

Academic Tutor @ UNSW
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Messages
632
Location
Kensington
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2016
*Describe how transuranic elements are produced

*Describe how commercial radioisotopes are produced

So in module one, the last chapter, I see these two syllabus

can anyone tell me what's the difference between the answers to these two dot point...??
They seem like the same: two main ways, either in a nuclear reactor using neutron bombardment, or in a partlcle accelerator, bombarding with a nucleus..?

& also cam anyone tell me if I have to memorise the examples for each.... They are pretty damn hard to memorise!
 
Last edited:

madharris

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Messages
2,160
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
I'm pretty sure they're the same except different equations (i could be wrong, I was always confused with this as well)

but I'm pretty sure you need at least 1 example/equation for each
 

golgo13

Alchemist
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
304
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Dunno if they changed the syllabus, but from memory it was learn how one commercial and one medical isotope are made and they're purpose
 

HeyJes

Academic Tutor @ UNSW
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Messages
632
Location
Kensington
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2016
Dunno if they changed the syllabus, but from memory it was learn how one commercial and one medical isotope are made and they're purpose
Umm.. That's not quite what I'm asking about... But there is dot point requiring you to vomit out the uses of an industrial and medical radioisotope..

Anyone knows about my question..?
 

golgo13

Alchemist
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
304
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Sorry my bad didn't read i think it's talking about the different like electron bombardment and wat not, the other one is like cyclotron and reactor etc
 

someth1ng

Retired Nov '14
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
5,558
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2021
*Describe how transuranic elements are produced

*Describe how commercial radioisotopes are produced
Describe how transuranic elements are produced
- Transuranic elements are any element with atomic number above 92.
- Transuranic elements are generally created in particle accelerators by induced nuclear transformations where there bombardment of a large nuclei with smaller nuclei, usually for the purpose of, more often than not, research.
- Example: Ca-48+Cm-248 -->Lv-296

Describe how commercial radioisotopes are produced
- Commercial radioisotopes (medical/industrial) are generally produced with neutron bombardment and because neutrons carry no charge, acceleration to high velocities is not required.
- Technetium-99m is a radioisotope used in medicine as a tracer.
- The tracer can form a tin compound that binds to red blood cells allowing blood flow to be traced and hence, find blood clots.
- Mo-98+neutron-->Mo-99-->Tc-99m+electron (not the best way to write an equation but it was easier this way)
- Tc-99m is suitable as a medical isotope because it does not react with any parts of the body, can be combined with other compounds to allow it to have a large variety of purposes and has a short biological half-life meaning that it will leave the body quickly.
- Furthermore, Tc-99m has a short half-life and decays into a non-toxic substance allowing it to minimise exposure to radiation.

- Strontium-90 is a radioisotope used in industry as a thickness gauges in sheet metal production.
- It has relatively low ionising energy allowing workers nearby to be less affected but it decays into a substance that has a very short half-life causing it to heat up and posing a risk of burns.
- Strontium-90 is highly reactive and is chemically similar to calcium allowing it to form bonds in the bones and replace calcium - this poses the risk of leukemia and bone cancer for workers working nearby so the strontium must be sealed.
- Sr-90-->Y-90+electron+gamma
- In the thickness gauge, if more radiation passes through the metal, it is too thin and if less radiation passes through the metal, it is too thick.


Bottom Line:
- A commercial radioisotope is any isotope that is used in industry/medicine and can have any atomic number.
- Transuranic elements are specifically elements that are beyond uranium or atomic number higher than 92.

Hope this helps!
 
Last edited:

HeyJes

Academic Tutor @ UNSW
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Messages
632
Location
Kensington
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2016
Describe how transuranic elements are produced
- Transuranic elements are any element with atomic number above 92.
- Transuranic elements are generally created in particle accelerators by induced nuclear transformations where there bombardment of a large nuclei with smaller nuclei, usually for the purpose of, more often than not, research.
- Example: Ca-48+Cm-248 -->Lv-296

Describe how commercial radioisotopes are produced
- Commercial radioisotopes (medical/industrial) are generally produced with neutron bombardment and because neutrons carry no charge, acceleration to high velocities is not required.
- Technetium-99m is a radioisotope used in medicine as a tracer.
- The tracer can form a tin compound that binds to red blood cells allowing blood flow to be traced and hence, find blood clots.
- Mo-98+neutron-->Mo-99-->Tc-99m+electron (not the best way to write an equation but it was easier this way)
- Tc-99m is suitable as a medical isotope because it does not react with any parts of the body, can be combined with other compounds to allow it to have a large variety of purposes and has a short biological half-life meaning that it will leave the body quickly.
- Furthermore, Tc-99m has a short half-life and decays into a non-toxic substance allowing it to minimise exposure to radiation.

- Strontium-90 is a radioisotope used in industry as a thickness gauges in sheet metal production.
- It has relatively low ionising energy allowing workers nearby to be less affected but it decays into a substance that has a very short half-life causing it to heat up and posing a risk of burns.
- Strontium-90 is highly reactive and is chemically similar to calcium allowing it to form bonds in the bones and replace calcium - this poses the risk of leukemia and bone cancer for workers working nearby so the strontium must be sealed.
- Sr-90-->Y-90+electron+gamma
- In the thickness gauge, if more radiation passes through the metal, it is too thin and if less radiation passes through the metal, it is too thick.
Thanks but again I'm not asking how to explain how two named radioisotopes are used, it's the next dot point . In my question, I'm asking how are they produced. Is there a difference in the way when transuranic element or commercial radioisotope are produced?

Thank u for your answers tho! I'm usin these two examples too
 

someth1ng

Retired Nov '14
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
5,558
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2021
Thanks but again I'm not asking how to explain how two named radioisotopes are used, it's the next dot point . In my question, I'm asking how are they produced. Is there a difference in the way when transuranic element or commercial radioisotope are produced?

Thank u for your answers tho! I'm usin these two examples too
Yes, there's a difference.

In commercial radioisotopes, it's generally produced in nuclear reactors by bombarding very small particles such as neutrons to a nuclei and the neutron will become incorporated into the nuclei to produce a heavier nuclei. The neutron does NOT need to be accelerated because it carries no charge unlike protons which would be repelled. This is called induced nuclear transformations.

In transuranic elements, it's usually two small nuclei that are bombarded with each other in a particle accelerator - acceleration is required because the positively charged nuclei will cause electrostatic repulsion and they must be forced together. This was seen in my first response where there was Cm-248 bombarded with Ca-48 nuclei to form Livermorium-296. As you can see, there are two small nuclei that are bombarded to form a large element.

Now, does that clear things up for you? :)
 

HeyJes

Academic Tutor @ UNSW
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Messages
632
Location
Kensington
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2016
Textbook says for both of them, nuclear reactor where neutron bombardment occurs, and particle accelerator eg cyclotron where positive charged particles are bombarded , these two work for both . So I can't tell any difference between the two dot point , I mean I know the definition of the terms tho
 

someth1ng

Retired Nov '14
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
5,558
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2021
Well, you don't bombard 2 nuclei to make something that's not transuranic since it would need more energy to make.
 

HeyJes

Academic Tutor @ UNSW
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Messages
632
Location
Kensington
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2016
Well, you don't bombard 2 nuclei to make something that's not transuranic since it would need more energy to make.
No I'm not bombarding two nuclei
1) neutron bombardment
2) positive particles bombardment
These are the two way which works independently for both
Hence I can't see any other difference..
 

someth1ng

Retired Nov '14
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
5,558
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2021
I should've said "you don't bombard a nuclei with another nuclei to create commercial radioisotopes" or something that made more sense, my bad.

The question is asking about how they do it - not if it's possible or not.
- Neutron bombardment is used to bombard small nuclei to make commercial radioisotopes.
--> sometimes you can add neutrons to make transuranic elements but usually it's bombarding them with smaller nuclei.
- Bombarding large nuclei with smaller nuclei is used to create transuranic elements.
--> this technique is not used to make commercial radioisotopes.

Clearly, they're two totally different things - if you don't understand that, I can't help you any further.
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top