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The international Radura logo, used to show a food has been treated with ionizing radiation. A portable, trailer-mounted food irradiation machine, c. 1968 Food irradiation (sometimes American English: radurization; British English: radurisation) is the process of exposing food and food packaging to ionizing radiation, such as from gamma rays, x-rays, or electron beams.
In food preservation, radiation is used to stop the sprouting of root crops after harvesting, to kill parasites and pests, and to control the ripening of stored fruit and vegetables. Food irradiation usually uses beta-decaying nuclides with strong gamma emissions like cobalt-60 or caesium-137.
The penetrating power of x-ray, gamma, beta, and positron radiation is used for medical imaging, nondestructive testing, and a variety of industrial gauges. Radioactive tracers are used in medical and industrial applications, as well as biological and radiation chemistry. Alpha radiation is used in static eliminators and smoke detectors.
Beta radiation, consisting of electrons or positrons, is stopped by a thin aluminum plate, but gamma radiation requires shielding by dense material such as lead or concrete. [1] A beta particle, also called beta ray or beta radiation (symbol β), is a high-energy, high-speed electron or positron emitted by the radioactive decay of an atomic ...
Induced radioactivity. Induced radioactivity, also called artificial radioactivity or man-made radioactivity, is the process of using radiation to make a previously stable material radioactive. [1] The husband-and-wife team of Irène Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot-Curie discovered induced radioactivity in 1934, and they shared the 1935 ...
Banana equivalent dose (BED) is an informal unit of measurement of ionizing radiation exposure, intended as a general educational example to compare a dose of radioactivity to the dose one is exposed to by eating one average-sized banana. Bananas contain naturally occurring radioactive isotopes, particularly potassium-40 (40 K), one of several ...
In all of these therapeutic uses, 131 I destroys tissue by short-range beta radiation. About 90% of its radiation damage to tissue is via beta radiation, and the rest occurs via its gamma radiation (at a longer distance from the radioisotope). It can be seen in diagnostic scans after its use as therapy, because 131 I is also a gamma-emitter.
Strontium. Strontium-90 is a commonly used beta emitter used in industrial sources. It decays to yttrium-90, which is itself a beta emitter. It is also used as a thermal power source in radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) power packs. These use heat produced by radioactive decay of strontium-90 to generate heat, which can be converted ...