10 Interesting Facts About Radioactive Tritium

10 Interesting Facts About Radioactive Tritium Tritium is the radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen. It has many useful applications. Here are some interesting facts about tritium: Tritium is also known as hydrogen-3 and has an element symbol T or 3H.  The nucleus of a tritium atom is called a triton  and consists of three particles: one proton and two neutrons. The word tritium comes from  Greek the word tritos, which means third. The other two isotopes of hydrogen are protium (most common form) and deuterium.Tritium has an atomic number of 1, like other hydrogen isotopes, but it has a mass of about 3 (3.016).Tritium decays via beta particle emission, with a half-life of 12.3 years. The beta decay releases 18 keV of energy, where tritium decays into helium-3 and a beta particle. As the neutron changes into a proton, the hydrogen changes into helium. This is an example of the natural transmutation of one element into another.Ernest Rutherford was the first person to produce tritium. Rutherford,  Mark Oliphant, and Paul Harteck prepared tritium from deuterium in 1934 but were unable to isolate it.  Luis Alvarez and Robert Cornog realized tritium was ra dioactive and successfully isolated the element. Trace amounts of tritium occur naturally on Earth when cosmic rays interact with the atmosphere. Most tritium that is available is made via neutron activation of lithium-6 in a nuclear reactor. Tritium is also produced by nuclear fission of uranium-235, uranium-233, and polonium-239. In the United States, tritium is produced at a nuclear facility in Savannah, Georgia. At the time of a report issued in 1996, only 225 kilograms of tritium had been produced in the United States.Tritium can exist as an odorless and colorless gas, like ordinary hydrogen, but the element is mainly found in liquid form as part of tritiated water or T2O, a form of heavy water.A tritium atom has the same 1 net electrical charge as any other hydrogen atom, but tritium behaves differently from the other isotopes in chemical reactions because the neutrons produce a stronger attractive nuclear force when another atom is brought close. Consequently, tritium is better able to fuse with lighter atoms to form heavier ones. External exposure to tritium gas or tritiated water is not very dangerous because tritium emits such a low energy beta particle that the radiation cannot penetrate the skin. However, tritium does pose some health risks if it is ingested, inhaled, or enters the body through an open wound or injection. The biological half-life ranges from around 7 to 14 days, so bioaccumulation of tritium is not a significant concern. Because beta particles are a form of ionizing radiation, the expected health effect from internal exposure to tritium would be an elevated risk of developing cancer.Tritium has many uses, including self-powered lighting, as a component in nuclear weapons, as a radioactive label in chemistry lab work, as a tracer for biological and environmental studies, and for controlled nuclear fusion.High levels of tritium were released into the environment from nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s. Prior to the tests, it is estimated only 3 to 4 kilograms of tritium was pres ent on the Earths surface. After testing, the levels rose 200-300%. Much of this tritium combined with oxygen to form tritiated water. One interesting consequence is that the tritiated water could be traced and used as a tool to monitor the hydrologic cycle and to map ocean currents. Sources Jenkins, William J. et al, 1996: Transient Tracers Track Ocean Climate Signals Oceanus, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Zerriffi, Hisham (January 1996). Tritium: The environmental, health, budgetary, and strategic effects of the Department of Energys decision to produce tritium. Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.

Initiative 200 essays

Initiative 200 essays Affirmative Action Under Attack by Initiative 200? Affirmative action is under heavy attack by initiative 200, and it should not be. It should not be under fire because it serves as an act of restitution for the discrimination and hurt that we have caused African-Americans and other minorities throughout this century. It is our job to repair and repay blacks because our performance in the past has immediately affected their present status. Americans, especially white males until late, were not opposed to affirmative action. This is only because affirmative action primarily benefited white males. It was the privileges our colonial fathers established on the basis of race and gender that allowed white males to dominate the job market with little or no contention. Some even believe that affirmative action is preferential treatment for white males. White males have used race consistently in two ways since the Civil War: for the purpose of inclusion and exclusion. They have used race inclusively to benefit themselves and exclusively to deny opportunity to others. In the past, white males were preferred. In the present, however, affirmative action, though still based on race and gender, is used to include those who in the past were excluded. In more precise terms, with todays affirmative action, or preferential treatment, we are attempting to adjust for the imbalances of the past that have been carried on into the present. All of this seems so intuitively obvious, so why then cant most Americans understand why affirmative action is obligatory? I believe the answer is as follows: Americans have refuse to recognize that there is and empirical relationship between the past and the present. They refuse to recognize that understanding the effects of past discrimination on the present is the key to explaining why affirmative action is not only needed in the present, but is the moral and political responsi...

Causes of the Economic Recession Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Causes of the Economic Recession - Essay Example Economic Recession has adverse effects on the economies and they include such aspects as unemployment which can hurt the economy of a country. Economic recession is also responsible for the lower standard of living for various people around the world (Siegel, 2002). There are various causes of an economic recession in a country's economic or rather in the world economy. This can be attributed to various effects which may vary from one country or region to another. There have been identified a number of causes for economic recession and this include financial crisis, energy crisis, war, under consumption, over production, currency crisis and increased fuel prices (Bulow, 1985). This is a situation in which various financial institutions or financial assets loose their value greatly and at a very sudden way. The situation can be expressed under many circumstances and it has been documented in historical perspective. One of the major causes of financial crisis in from the 19th century to the modern day world is the aspect of banking panics which have been associated with many recessions in the world. Financial crisis is also characterized by the crashing of stock markets all over the world, sovereign defaults, currency crisis and the financial bubbles bursting (Markus, 2008). There have been recorded a number of financial crisis in the world and the most notable is the Asian Financial Crisis of the year 1997 which was responsible for economic recession in Asia and the far reaching effects were felt all over the world. The most notable of the financial crisis was the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and 2009 which sparked off in the United States of America and spread to major European economies and consequently its effects were felt all over the world with the third world countries being adversely affected (Charles, 2005). Prior to the economic recession of 2008 and 2009 various financial institution collapsed and this led to the closure of many corporations in the world. The majority of these corporations were in the world leading economies notably the countries of United States such as American Insurance Group and corporations from Europe. These countries are the leading world economies and with this economies being affected by financial crisis, the world consequently was affected by economic recession (Siegel, 2002). 1.1.2 Currency Crisis A currency crisis is also referred to as a balance of payment crisis and it happens when the currency of a country either appreciates or depreciates suddenly. This change of the value of a currency undermines its qualification as a medium of exchange or also as a store of value. It is a character of a financial crisis and it is incorporated into one of the association of the real economic