INTERACTIONS OF IONIZING

RADIATION WITH MATTERS

DR. CHAU VAN TAO
DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS
NATURALSCIENCES UNIVERSITY

Questions
What is radiation?
What is ionizing radiation?
How do we measure radiation?
Where does radiation come from?
What are the effects of radiation?
Is radiation good for anything?
nucleus
proton
neutron
electron
Atomic Structure and Radioactive Decay
Atomic Structure

Rntgen
1895
Discovery
of X-ray
Pierre & Marie
Curie
1898

Discovery of Ra, Po
Becquerel
1896
Spontaneous
radioactivity
Hahn
1938

Discovery of
fission
Discovery of Radiation
Discovery of Radiation
Ernest Rutherford(1871-1935) Albert Einstein(1879- 1955)

Types of Radiation and Nuclear Energy
Atomic Structure and Radioactive Decay
Atoms and Isotopes
X
N
A
Z
X: Chemical Symbol
A: Atomic mass number
Z: Atomic number
N: Neutron number
or
X-A
He
4
2
He-4
A=Z+N
4 2 2
electron
Atomic Structure and Radioactive Decay
Co-60
Proton : 27
Neutron: 33
Ni-60*
Proton : 28
Neutron: 32
b
b-decay and g-ray emission
Ni-60
Proton : 28
Neutron: 32
g
electromagnetic
radiation
More Radioactivity
+
60
Co
Beta ray
(electron)
+
+
226
Ra
Alpha ray
(helium nucleus)
7
Be

Gamma ray
+
-
electron
7
Be
7
Li + g
11
C
11
B + b
+

60
Co
60
Ni + b

226
Ra
222
Rn
+
+
11
C

Positron
Antoine Henri Becquerel
(18521908)
Discovered
radioactivity
of uranium
proton
neutron
Atomic Structure and Radioactive Decay
-decay
U-238
Proton : 92
Neutron: 146
Th-234
Proton : 90
Neutron: 144

nucleus
, b, g-ray
Lead block
Radioactive
substance
b-ray
g-ray
-ray
(+)
(-)
Electrically
charged plates
Photographic
plate
Types of Radiation
Types of Radiation
Types of Radiation
Types of
radiation
Charge
Mass
(amu)
Remarks
-ray
+2 4
Very short range
Highly ionizing
b-ray
-1 0.0005
Short range
g-ray
0 0
Long range
neutron
0 1
Long range
Types of Radiation
Half-life Time of Radionuclide
Characteristics of Radiation
A = A
0
e
-lt
l: Probability of disintegration per unit time
Half Life,
1/2
= log2 / l
Half-life Time of Radionuclide
Characteristics of Radiation
Nuclide Half-life
24
Na 15.0 h
222
Rn 3.8 d
131
I 8.0 d
60
Co 5.3 y
90
Sr 28.8 y
137
Cs 30 y
226
Ra 1600 y
239
Pu 24000 y
238
U 4.5x10
9
y
Characteristics of Radiation
Penetrating Distances

b
g and X
neutron
Paper Plastic Lead Concrete
Skin Aluminum Iron Water
Electromagnetic Radiation
f = c/l
Speed of light
BUT:
Radiation can also be interpreted as
particles (photons) with energy E
E = hf
Plancks constant
Ionizing Radiation
+
+
+
+
-
-
Radiation that is energetic enough to remove a tightly bound
electron from a neutral atom
Radiation
Electron
Ion
Ionizing Radiation
Different kinds of radiation produce different patterns of ionization
+ + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ + + + + +
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Ionizing Non ionizing
A A
Measuring Radiation (Ion Chamber)
Measuring Radiation (Geiger
Counter)
GeigerMller
Tube
Measuring Radiation
(Scintillator)
1024
4096
4
10
= 1,048,576
Scintillator
Light guide
Photomultiplier tube
Dynodes
Electrical
pulse
1
4
16
64
256
Photocathode
The Gamma Spectrometer

Lesson 1 - Inverse Square Law of Gamma Radiation
I
0

x
1

I
1

I
0

2
1
0
1
x
I
k I
x
2

I
1
I
2

I
0

2
1
x
mm mm
logk-2logx
o
I / I
2
o
x
I
k I
o
I / I
2
o
x
k
I
I

x log 2 k log ] I / I log[

o

x
x
I
o

Lesson 2 The Decrease Of Gamma Intensity

Interaction of Radiation with Matter
Interaction of Electromagnetic Radiation
with Matter
Photoelectric Effect
photoelectron
gray
e
-
E: energy of the incident photon
E
s
: energy of the scattered photon
q : the scattering angle
m: electron mass
Interaction of Radiation with Matter
Interaction of Electromagnetic Radiation
with Matter
Compton Scattering
gray
gray
electron
e
-
Pair Production
Interaction of Radiation with Matter
E = 2mc
2
+ E
+
+ E
-

m: electron rest mass
c: the speed of light
E
+
: kinetic energies of the positron
E
-
: kinetic energy of the electron
Interaction of Electromagnetic Radiation
with Matter
positron
electron
gray
e
-
e
+
Interaction of Radiation with Matter
Photoelectric Effect
Pair Production
Compton Scattering

x
o
e . I I

I
x
x
e

mm mm
-x
o
I / I
x
o
e . I I

o
I / I
x
o
e I / I

x ] I / I ln[
o

x
x
electron
Co-60
Proton : 27
Neutron: 33
Ni-60*
Proton : 28
Neutron: 32
b

Lesson 3 - The Gamma Spectrum

Ni-60
Proton : 28
Neutron: 32
g
electromagnetic
radiation
g
Lesson 3 - The Gamma Spectrum

g
Cobalt Spectrum

THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION