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It has a half-life of 30 years, and decays by beta decay without gamma ray emission to a metastable state of barium-137 (137m Ba). Barium-137m has a half-life of a 2.6 minutes and is responsible for all of the gamma ray emission in this decay sequence. The ground state of barium-137 is stable. The photon energy (energy of a single gamma ray) of ...
The most common gamma emitter used in medical applications is the nuclear isomer technetium-99m which emits gamma rays in the same energy range as diagnostic X-rays. When this radionuclide tracer is administered to a patient, a gamma camera can be used to form an image of the radioisotope's distribution by detecting the gamma radiation emitted ...
The incoming gamma ray effectively knocks one or more neutrons, protons, or an alpha particle out of the nucleus. [1] The reactions are called (γ,n), (γ,p), and (γ,α). Photodisintegration is endothermic (energy absorbing) for atomic nuclei lighter than iron and sometimes exothermic (energy releasing) for atomic nuclei heavier than iron.
There are applications of gamma rays to mineral exploration through remote sensing. In 1972 more than two million dollars were spent on remote sensing applications with gamma rays to mineral exploration. Gamma rays are used to search for deposits of uranium. By observing radioactivity from potassium, porphyry copper deposits can be located.
Gauges - Gauges use the exponential absorption law of gamma rays Level indicators: Source and detector are placed at opposite sides of a container, indicating the presence or absence of material in the horizontal radiation path. Beta or gamma sources are used, depending on the thickness and the density of the material to be measured.
The gamma rays emitted from radium 226, accounting for 4% of the radiation, are harmful to humans with sufficient exposure. Gamma rays are highly penetrating and some can pass through metals, so Geiger counters or a scintillation probe are used to measure gamma ray exposures when monitoring for NORM.
In general (depending on the half-life of the decay), gamma rays have very narrow line widths. This means they are very sensitive to small changes in the energies of nuclear transitions. In fact, gamma rays can be used as a probe to observe the effects of interactions between a nucleus and its electrons and those of its neighbors.
Gamma-ray spectrometry, on the other hand, is the method used to acquire a quantitative spectrum measurement. [2] Most radioactive sources produce gamma rays, which are of various energies and intensities. When these emissions are detected and analyzed with a spectroscopy system, a gamma-ray energy spectrum can be produced.