photoelectric effect a low energy photon strikes an bound electron transferring energy to it.

When the energy is large enough to overcome the binding energy of the electron the target atom
becomes ionized by losing the electron. Photoelectric effect increases with increasing z and
decreases with greater E photons.
Compton scattering a photon with some amount of kinetic energy strikes a electron. A photon
with less energy and going in a different direction emerges. Increases with increasing z and
decreases slowly with increasing photon energy.
Pair production a photon with a high kinetic energy, threshold > 1.022 Mev, interacts with the
coulomb field of the nucleus of an atom, the photon disappears and an electron and positron pair
are created which share the excess kinetic energy of the photon as kinetic energy for themselves.
Probability increases with increasing Z and E.
2.
a. photo-fission- fission process induced by nuclear absorption of electromagnetic energy
(photon)
b. mean free path - the average distance travelled by a moving particle between successive
impacts
c. isotopes- variants of a particular chemical element that have the same number of protons but
different number of neutrons
d. isotones- radionuclides with the same number of neutrons but a difference in the number of
protons
e. isobars - radionuclides of different chemical elements that have the same number of
nucleons
f. isomers- contain the same number of atoms of each element, but have different
arrangements of their atoms in space, i.e. same nucleus different energy states
g. relative biological effectiveness the ratio of biological effects of one type of ionizing
radiation relative to another, given the same amount of absorbed energy
h. quality factors number used to modify the absorbed dose of a type of radiation to give a
dose equivalent.

i. radiation weighting factors number modified to take into account the spectrum of
energies of neutrons to get equivalent dose
j. equilibrium wall thickness thickness in cavity wall that results in charged particle
equilibrium inside the detector for particles you are working with
k. spallation- when a nucleus is shattered into its component parts aka broken into many
pieces
l. Removal cross section- Approximate cross section to give you an idea of the ability of that
shield to attenuate photons or neutrons.
m. KERMA kinetic energy of radiation released per unit mass, (the expectation value of the
kinetic energy transferred to charged particles per unit mass at a point of interest)
n. Effective dose the tissue weighted sum of the equivalent doses in all specified tissues and
organs of the body that represents the stochastic health risk modification of dose equivalent taken
into account
3. What are the differences between X rays and rays? Explain your answer.
their differences are due to their origins, x rays are emitted by electrons outside the nucleus,
while gamma rays are emitted by the nucleus. Gamma rays are more dangerous to human health,
they penetrate further than x rays and are more energetic due to changes in energies of nuclei
xrays come from changes in energies of electron. Gamma rays are also higher on the frequency
spectrum.
4. Why is water often used in health physics as a surrogate for human tissue?
because the range that particles travel through them at different energies are similar
5. fissile material which will fission with the absorption of a neutron of essentially any kinetic
energy
Fissionable material which will fission with the absorption of a neutron with kinetic energy
above 1 Mev
Fertile a non fissile material(nuclide) which can be converted to a fissile material through
neutron absorption and subsequent radioactive decay.
Critical mass the smallest amount of fissile material which will support a self sustaining chain
reaction.
6. U-233, U-235, Pu-239

7. U-238, Th-232
8. U-238, Th-232
9. mass control means if we know how much material it takes to make a critical mass, we can
determine the critical mass for that critical material and never let any container hold that amount
of material. Geometry control makes sure at least one or ideally all dimensions are small enough
so that neutrons are able to escape. Concentration is similar to mass; try to make sure that if you
have fissile material in your solution try to make sure that solution concentrations can never
reach an amount that would cause criticality.
11. an uncontrolled, self sustaining nuclear chain reaction occurring with any form of nuclear
fuel.
12. a frame around a fissile material container that acts as a form of geometry control used to
help with the transport of fuel in order to keep it from going critical.
13. Critical on average exactly one of the several ns emitted in the fission process causes
another nucleus to fission.
Subcritical if less than one fission occurs per fission neutron produced
Supercritical if on average more than one fission neutron produces fission of another
nucleus.
Super prompt critical - when the reaction is supercritical without any help from delayed
neutrons.
14. 207 MeV
15. 168 MeV
16. short since it stays in the fuel and deposits its energy there
17. around 200
18. Beta particle, Gamma ray
19. 133 Cs and 135 I
20. 198 207 MeV
21. 5 MeV
22. A radionuclide that is unstable due to how heavy it is. It splits into two nearly equal
fragments and emits some neutrons. It is important because they produce extra neutrons that you
might not need in your reactor.

23. milliseconds, typically on the order of 10^16 or 10^(17) neutrons per cm squared per second
24. a. (total # of neutrons produced from thermal and fast fission absorption) / (number of
neutrons produced from thermal fission)
b. probability that a fast neutron doesnt leak while fast.
c. probability that a fast neutron is not absorbed while slowing to thermal
d. probability that a thermal neutron does not leak
e. probability that a thermal neutron is absorbed in fuel given that it was absorbed.
f. expected number of neutrons produced per absorption in fuel
25. a source that uses an alpha particle to induce nuclear reactions in a target which can cause the
ejection of neutrons, but only if the alpha can overcome the columbic barrier
Example 241 Am/Be
26. a gamma ray striking a nucleus in the target with enough energy to overcome the BE of the
last neutron and thus producing a photo-neutron
Example 24NaBe
27. slow 0.01 0.1 MeV
Fast 0.1 10 MeV
Relativistic >10 MeV
28. a composite shield- first a low z material such as carbon to get elastic scattering, Then an
absorber like boron to absorb the slow moving neutrons. Finally a high z material such as lead to
get the elastic scattering.
29. units of [L^(-1)] or inverse centimeters. It is the probability per unit distance traveled that
a photon interacts by one physical process or another.
m = /p(density) units of square centimeters per gram [cm^(2)g^(-1)]
30. because it has a really short half life and emits a 140 keV gamma ray. Chemistry allows it to
be used in combination with a lot of different drugs. Can be used for lots of different procedures
31. Uses the annihilation radiation from positrons to image the body and know that the .511 MeV
photons are emitted at 180 degrees from each other.
32. Cobalt therapy machine, Gamma Knife, Cyber Knife

Cobalt therapy machine uses a single source with a wide, but collimated beam
Gamma uses hundreds of precisely targeted gamma ray beams obtained from cobalt 60
sources that converge on a single point, used on the brain.
Cyber a single beam that is used anywhere on the body, also has a accelerator on an arm
33. Brachytherapy implantation of radioactive seed into prostate gland, to treat prostate cancer
34. Gas filled detectors
Scintillation detectors
Solid state detectors
35. Overall as voltage increases, pulse height increases (gets bigger and bigger).
36. Recombination region, ionization, proportional, limited proportional, Geiger Mueller,
continuous. Diverges for different energy particles
37. Dead time minimum time at which detector recovers enough to start another avalanche
(pulse)
38. Light output, longer delayed light emission, higher atomic numbers for better interactions,
also linear energy response.
39. Drawing, annihilation peaks, photo peaks, continuum
40. Where you have a material that has electron traps, which when you heat them, the electrons
will move and give off light
41. Advantages able to measure greater range of doses, doses may be easily obtained, they can
be read onsite
Disadvantages lack of uniformity, storage instability, fading, no permanent record
42. 10B + n 7Li* + 4He +2310 keV
43. 3He + n 3H + 1H +765 keV