An endocrinologist is deciding between using Iodine-123 (which emits gamma radiation and has a half-life of 13 hours) and Iodine-131 (which emits β−\beta^{-}β− particles and has a half-life of 8 days) for a diagnostic scan of a patient's thyroid gland.
Explain two distinct physical reasons why Iodine-123 is highly advantageous for diagnostic imaging compared to Iodine-131.
The gamma photons emitted by Iodine-123 are detected by a gamma camera to reconstruct a spatial image of the thyroid. State the names of the three sequential hardware components of the gamma camera that process the gamma photons before they reach the computer, and describe the physical function of each.
