Isotopes are used for many different things in medicine. Stable isotopes are used to diagnose diseases and understand metabolic pathways in humans. They can also be used in geology, nutrition, drug testing and physics. Radioisotopes are more commonly used in medicine then stable isotopes. The branch of medicine that uses radioisotopes is called Nuclear Medicine, which includes; diagnosis, radiotherapy, biochemical analysis, and therapeutics. Diagnosis uses radioactive tracers (which have short lives so they don't harm the body as much) which are put into the body by injection, inhalation or orally. A camera can then detect where the radioactive tracers are in the body, and the physician can look for indications of abnormal conditions.
Isotopes are used for a couple of things in research. For example, radioactive carbon 14 can be digested by humans and traced through a body by physiologists. This can be used to find out how things in the body move. Chemists can also you isotopes as "tracers". Isotopes can also be used in electronics to stimulate research.Radioisotopes can be used in industry for gamma and x-ray analysis, gamma radiography, gauging, gamma sterilisation, and mixing uses. For example gamma rays can be used to determine the ash content of a coal line. The gamma rays can find the content of ash because the ash has a higher atomic number than coal. Gamma radiation can be used to sterilise medical products, wool, or food. It works by putting the medical products in a nuclear reactor then the reactor is bombarded with gamma radiation. (Time Inc., 2009)
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