Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of tables
- Foreword
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Atoms, nuclides and radionuclides
- Chapter 2 Units and standards for radioactivity and radiation dosimetry and rules for radiation protection
- Chapter 3 Properties of radiations emitted from radionuclides
- Chapter 4 Nuclear radiations from a user's perspective
- Chapter 5 Ionising radiation detectors
- Chapter 6 Radioactivity and countrate measurements and the presentation of results
- Chapter 7 Industrial applications of radioisotopes and radiation
- Chapter 8 Application of tracer technology to industry and the environment
- Chapter 9 Radionuclides to protect the environment
- Appendices
- 1 Glossary of technical terms
- 2 A selection of references to texts on health physics and radiation protection
- 3 Comments on the availability of nuclear data on the Internet
- 4 Application of tracer techniques to fluid dynamics
- 5 Dispersion processes
- References
- Index
1 - Glossary of technical terms
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of tables
- Foreword
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Atoms, nuclides and radionuclides
- Chapter 2 Units and standards for radioactivity and radiation dosimetry and rules for radiation protection
- Chapter 3 Properties of radiations emitted from radionuclides
- Chapter 4 Nuclear radiations from a user's perspective
- Chapter 5 Ionising radiation detectors
- Chapter 6 Radioactivity and countrate measurements and the presentation of results
- Chapter 7 Industrial applications of radioisotopes and radiation
- Chapter 8 Application of tracer technology to industry and the environment
- Chapter 9 Radionuclides to protect the environment
- Appendices
- 1 Glossary of technical terms
- 2 A selection of references to texts on health physics and radiation protection
- 3 Comments on the availability of nuclear data on the Internet
- 4 Application of tracer techniques to fluid dynamics
- 5 Dispersion processes
- References
- Index
Summary
This glossary lists terms in common use in the nuclear sciences. Fifteen terms used in radiation protection are listed in Table 2.2 and properties of nuclear particles are summarised in Table 1.2.
Absorption (1) The retention, in a material, of energy removed from radiation passing through it. (2) The process whereby neutrons (or other elementary particles) are captured by nuclei.
Activation analysis A method of analysis based on the identification and measurement of characteristic radiation from radio nuclides formed by neutron irradiation in a sample of the irradiated material.
Activity (of a substance) Short for radioactivity. The number of disintegrations per unit time taking place in a radioactive material. The unit of activity is the becquerel (Bq), one disintegration per second.
Alpha particles Energetic helium nuclei (4He) emitted from the nuclei of higher Z number atoms (Z > 60) during alpha particle decays.
Annihilation radiation The electromagnetic radiation resulting from the mutual annihilation of the mass of negatively charged electrons (negatrons) and positrons (β− − β+). The annihilation radiation consists of two photons, each 0.51 MeV, emitted in opposite directions.
Atomic mass unit One-twelfth of the mass of a carbon-12 atom and approximately equal to the mass of a single proton or neutron. It is abbreviated amu.
Atomic number The number (Z) of protons in the nuclei of the atoms of an element, indicating the position of that element in the periodic table.
Atomic weight For a given specimen of an element, the mean weight of its atoms, expressed in either atomic mass units (physical scale) or atomic weight units (chemical scale).
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- Information
- Practical Applications of Radioactivity and Nuclear Radiations , pp. 306 - 310Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001