Conceptual Questions

ssm Solution is in the Student Solutions Manual

| 1 | Two different types of radiation have the same RBE. Does this mean that each type delivers the same amount of energy to the tissue that it irradiates? Justify your answer.

| 2 | When a dentist X-rays your teeth, a lead apron is placed over your chest and lower body. What is the purpose of this apron?

| 3 | State whether the two quantities in each of the following cases are related and, if so, give the relation between them: (a) rads and grays, and (b) rads and roentgens.

| 4 | ssm Explain why the following reactions are not allowed: .

| 5 | Thermal neutrons and thermal protons have nearly the same speed. But thermal neutrons and thermal electrons have very different speeds. Account for this observation, and explain whether the neutrons or the electrons have the greater speed.

| 6 | Would a release of energy accompany the fission of a nucleus of nucleon number 25 into two fragments of about equal mass? Using the curve in Figure 32-9, account for your answer.

| 7 | In the fission of there are, on the average, 2.5 neutrons released per fission. Suppose a different element is being fissioned and, on the average, only 1.0 neutron is released per fission. If a small fraction of the thermal neutrons absorbed by the nuclei does not produce a fission, can a self-sustaining chain reaction be produced using this element? Explain.

| 8 | The mass of coal consumed in a coal-burning electric power plant is about two million times greater than the mass of used to fuel a comparable nuclear power plant. Why?

| 9 | ssm Refer to Figure 32-9 and decide whether the fusion of two nuclei, each with a nucleon number of 60, would release energy. Give your reasoning.

| 10 | Explain the difference between fission and fusion and why each process produces energy.

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