To locate a suspected fracture in a subterranean municipal water pipeline, engineers introduce a gamma-emitting radioactive tracer at the source and monitor the flow along the pipeline. This scanning procedure requires continuous detection of radiation over a period of 8 hours.
State why a radioactive tracer with a half-life of 40 minutes is not suitable for this investigation.
90 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Physics 6.3 Nuclear equations and decay, covering 6.3.1 Beta-minus and beta-plus decay, 6.3.2 Effects of decay on the nucleus, and 6.3.3 Balancing nuclear equations. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.