Radiation Worksheet. “Space faring: The Radiation Challenge” and “International Space Station Internal Radiation Monitoring” released by Nasa

Radiation Worksheet. “Space faring: The Radiation Challenge” and “International Space Station Internal Radiation Monitoring” released by Nasa 1. The graph above represents the nuclear decay of a radioactive element, measured using a radiation-detecting device. What is the half-life, in days, of this hypothetical element? 2. If the half-life of a given substance is 65 days, how long will it take for a 100-gram sample of the substance to decay until there is only 25 grams of the radioactive material remaining? 3. If a sample of radioactive isotopes takes 60 minutes to decay from 200 grams to 50 grams, what is the half-life of the isotope? Hint: First, determine how many times the sample has lost half of its mass, which tells you how many half-life cycles have occurred. 4. If a 500.0 g sample of technetium-99 decays to 62.5 g of technetium-99 remaining in 639,000 years, what is the half-life of technetium-99? Part 2 Listen to the podcast (© 2015 The New York Times Company) to answer these questions. 1. How does a cell phone use radiation to function? 2. Compare and contrast this type from other types of radiation. 3. How can cell phone radiation be harmful to people? 4. Do we know for sure if cell phones cause health risks? Why or why not? 5. Based on what you heard in this podcast, do you think you are "frying your brain" with your cell phone? Why or why not? 6. If you were a scientist, how would you test if cell phones cause health risks? What type of experiment might you design to figure out if you are frying your brain with your cell phone?