STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Main Problem:
How can the ionization chamber detect if the environment is surrounded or has Radon?
Sub- Problems:
What are the primary sources of radon gas?
What elements are found when radon decays?
How can this gas cause different kinds of diseases?
OBJECTIVE:
Build a simple ionization chamber that is capable of detecting fairly low levels of radiation
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Radon is a cancer-causing gas. It comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soil, rock and water and gets into the air you breathe. These radioactive materials "decay" into lighter elements, emitting energetic sub-atomic particles in the process, and one of those lighter elements is Radon. Since radon is a noble gas, it is chemically inert and doesn 't stay bound in the solid the way it 's parent did. It diffuses right through solids and ends up floating freely in the air. Being a noble gas, radon is fairly harmless, itself. You breathe in some radon with every breath but then you breathe it right back out, since it isn 't chemically active or electrically charged. But radon has a short half-life of only about four days, meaning that about half of it will decay within four days, producing new, even lighter radioactive isotopes of other elements like polonium, lead, and bismuth. Those isotopes keep decaying, until a stable isotope of lead is reached. These radon "daughters" are not noble gasses like radon, they are usually ionized when they are produced, and they will readily stick to anything nearby, like healthy lung tissue. They typically have an even shorter half-life than radon and quickly decay inside the lung, kicking out energetic alpha and beta particles that can cause tissue damage and potentially trigger lung cancer. This unfortunate chain of events is due to the decay chain including a noble gas. Radon gas is considered to be the second leading cause of lung cancer.
It can get into any type of building — homes, offices, and schools —
Main Problem:
How can the ionization chamber detect if the environment is surrounded or has Radon?
Sub- Problems:
What are the primary sources of radon gas?
What elements are found when radon decays?
How can this gas cause different kinds of diseases?
OBJECTIVE:
Build a simple ionization chamber that is capable of detecting fairly low levels of radiation
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Radon is a cancer-causing gas. It comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soil, rock and water and gets into the air you breathe. These radioactive materials "decay" into lighter elements, emitting energetic sub-atomic particles in the process, and one of those lighter elements is Radon. Since radon is a noble gas, it is chemically inert and doesn 't stay bound in the solid the way it 's parent did. It diffuses right through solids and ends up floating freely in the air. Being a noble gas, radon is fairly harmless, itself. You breathe in some radon with every breath but then you breathe it right back out, since it isn 't chemically active or electrically charged. But radon has a short half-life of only about four days, meaning that about half of it will decay within four days, producing new, even lighter radioactive isotopes of other elements like polonium, lead, and bismuth. Those isotopes keep decaying, until a stable isotope of lead is reached. These radon "daughters" are not noble gasses like radon, they are usually ionized when they are produced, and they will readily stick to anything nearby, like healthy lung tissue. They typically have an even shorter half-life than radon and quickly decay inside the lung, kicking out energetic alpha and beta particles that can cause tissue damage and potentially trigger lung cancer. This unfortunate chain of events is due to the decay chain including a noble gas. Radon gas is considered to be the second leading cause of lung cancer.
It can get into any type of building — homes, offices, and schools —
References: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p090.shtml#background