Quelpr
5 marksRadioactivity

CAPE Physics Unit 2 · 2009 · Paper 2 · Question 6(c)

Medical tracer application using radioactive sodium-24.

A small volume of sodium-24 solution having an initial activity of 1.2 * 10^4 disintegrations per minute was injected into a patient's bloodstream. After 30 hours, the activity of 1.0 cm^3 of the blood was measured as 0.50 disintegrations per minute. Calculate the total volume of blood in the patient.

The mark scheme is shown once you've answered.

Practise this question

Other parts of this question

  1. 6(a)Explain the terms 'decay constant' (lambda) and 'half life' (T_1/2). Starting with N = N0 * e^(-lambda * t), derive an equation relating these two quantities.[5 marks]
  2. 6(b)(i)Calculate the decay constant in units of s^-1.[1 mark]
  3. 6(b)(ii)Calculate the number of atoms present in a 1.0 mg sample of sodium-24.[2 marks]
  4. 6(b)(iii)Calculate the activity of a 1.0 mg pure sample of sodium-24.[2 marks]

More practice: the rest of this paper · more Radioactivity questions · all CAPE Physics Unit 2 past papers