1. Radioactive dating
(a) CARBON 14 - for dating material that has been alive or has been made from once living material.
(b) URANIUM 238 or POTASSIUM 40 for dating rocks.
2. Smoke alarms - containing an alpha source
3. Cracks in castings - using a gamma source
4. Radioactive tracers - used in testing blood flow, tracking underground streams and following the movement of silt in rivers
5. Thickness gauge - using a beta source to measure the thickness of polythene
6. Sterilisation of food - killing bacteria using gamma radiation
7. Medical uses of radioisotopes
These fall into two main sections:
(i) diagnostic – where the radiation is used to locate a problem
(ii) therapeutic – where the radiation is used to treat a problem