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American Academy Larnaca

Year 5 Test
Double Science
Physics
Topic P2.11: Putting radiation to use
Monday 16 February 2009
Time: 20 minutes

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Question 1

The diagram shows the structure of a helium atom.

(a) (i) Use the information in the diagram to explain the numbers in the symbol below
used to represent a helium atom.

4 .................................................................................................................................................

2 .................................................................................................................................................
(2)
(ii) State the overall charge of a helium atom.

....................................................................................................................................................
(1)

(b) Some radioactive isotopes emit alpha particles. The diagram shows the structure of an alpha
particle.

(i) State the difference between a helium atom and an alpha particle.

....................................................................................................................................................
(1)
(ii) State the overall charge of an alpha particle.

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(1)

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(c) An alpha particle travels only about 5 cm in air even though it is emitted with a large amount of
energy.

Complete the sentence by putting a circle around the appropriate box

An alpha particle is a good

Ionizer Penetrator Radiator

(1)

(Total 6 marks)

Question 2

(a) Francine is a flight attendant.

She has heard that cosmic radiation is a problem for people who fly a lot.
Francine normally works on routes which go over the North Pole.

(i) What is cosmic radiation?

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(1)

(ii) Why is cosmic radiation dangerous?

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(1)

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(b) Francine does an Internet search and finds this graph.

The graph shows how many hours you need to fly to get the same dose of cosmic radiation at
different altitudes over Northern Europe.

(i) Use the graph to describe how the flight time varies with altitude for the same dose of radiation.

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(1)

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(ii) How does the graph show that the strength of cosmic radiation increases with altitude?

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(1)

(iii) Explain why the cosmic radiation is more at greater altitude.

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(1)

(c) The table shows the data for flights over the equator, giving the same dose of cosmic radiation
as in part (b).

(i) Draw a graph of this data on the same axes as in part (b).
(2)

(ii) Explain why the flight time over the equator that produces the same dose of cosmic radiation is
larger than the flight time over Northern Europe.

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....................................................................................................................................................

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(1)

(Total 8 marks)

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Question 3

Phillipa works at a nuclear processing plant. She helps to find suitable uses for radioactive isotopes
by examining data and calculating half-lives of different isotopes.

(a) Explain the term half-life:

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(1)

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(b) Phillipa has the following data which shows how the activity of plutonium-238 varies with time.

(i) Draw a graph of activity against time for plutonium-238

(4)

(ii) Use your graph to calculate the half-life of plutonium-238.

....................................................................................................................................................

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half-life = ................................................ years

(1)

(Total 6 marks)
(Total SQ 20 marks)
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Bonus Questions

The nucleon number A and proton number Z for six different nuclides are shown on the grid:

Explain the term isotope

....................................................................................................................................................

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(1)
On the grid, circle two nuclides that are isotopes of the same element.

(1)
Draw an arrow labelled α showing one of the nuclides decaying by alpha emission into one of the
other nuclides.
(1)
Draw an arrow labeled β showing one of the nuclides decaying by beta-minus decay into one of
the other nuclides
(1)
Use information from the grid to help you complete a nuclear equation for this beta-minus emission

Y
X + β
(6)
(Total 10 marks)

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