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4.3 Hazards and uses of radioactive emissions and of background radiation

4.3 Hazards and uses of radioactive emissions and of background radiation

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Question 12

An archivist uses a radiation detector to assess a vintage pocket watch with radium-painted hands.

To determine the radiation emitted solely by the watch, the archivist performs two measurements:

  1. They measure the background radiation in the empty archive room, recording 216216216 counts over a duration of 12 minutes12\text{ minutes}12 minutes.
  2. They place the watch close to the detector and record 340834083408 counts over a period of 4 minutes4\text{ minutes}4 minutes.

Calculate the corrected count rate of the pocket watch in counts per second.

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Markscheme

4.3 Hazards and uses of radioactive emissions and of background radiation Questions

  1. GCSE
  2. /Physics
  3. /4.3 Hazards and uses of radioactive emissions and of background radiation

16 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE Physics 4.3 Hazards and uses of radioactive emissions and of background radiation, covering 4.3.1 Background radiation, 4.3.2 Different half-lives of radioactive isotopes, and 4.3.3 Uses of nuclear radiation. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.

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