Why is barium 137m radioactive

You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. A FEW years ago, Wasserman, Twardock and Comar 1 investigated the metabolic dissociation of caesium—barium m in animals. A value for the half-life of barium m could be estimated from their data; it appeared to be about 2.

Wasserman, R. Mitchell, A. Cook, G. Google Scholar. Back to Top. My Account Sign In. My Favorites. My Cart. Modular Circuits, Projectiles, Photogates, and more.

See our collection of product guides. Browse Guides. On-Site Workshops. Submit a Request. Abidance by this philosophy will stand one in good stead if future involvements lead to the use of larger amounts of radioactive materials. We should note up front that, so far as I am aware, all of the generator units that are used for educational purposes, as you describe, incorporate a small quantity of Cs, typically no more than 3.

This quantity of Cs is often referred to as an exempt quantity, meaning that the person or facility that possesses such an amount need not hold a license from the pertinent regulating agency in the United States such agencies are usually either the U. Nuclear Regulatory Commission or the radiation control program for the state in which the licensee resides.

The implication of this exemption is that the quantity of activity is believed to be sufficiently small that it poses no significant health risk to users. Regarding your specific concerns:.

Small amounts of the Cs may be washed out along with the m Ba, but you should not be concerned with potential exposure associated with usual use of the material. Typical estimates of cesium removal for these devices are on the order of 50 Bq of Cs eluted per milliliter ml of effluent when the total Cs content of the device is about 3. For your reference, the allowed maximum annual ingestion intake of Cs for occupationally exposed individuals is 3.

This amount of m Ba taken into the body would have a negligible dose impact. Snedegar and A. Exton, Am. SigmaPlot 8. Download references. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Woon-Kwan Chung. Reprints and Permissions.

Kweon, D. Use of a GM counter to measure the half-life of Bam generated by using an isotope generator. Journal of the Korean Physical Society 65, — Download citation. Received : 02 January Accepted : 26 February