What Is The Difference Between Cobalt-59 And Cobalt-60?

Cobalt-60 and cobalt-59 are isotopes. This means that while they have the same number of protons (proton number determines the identity of the isotope), they have different mass numbers because they contain different numbers of neutrons.

How are cobalt-60 and cobalt-59 the same element?

Cobalt-59 and cobalt-60 are called isotopes of cobalt—they’re the same element, but with different numbers of neutrons. Elements also can form isomers, a subtle variation. If a regular atom is called A, then an isomer of it (call it A*) is the same element and has the same number of neutrons.

Where is cobalt-60 used?

What is it used for? Co-60 is used medically for radiation therapy as implants and as an external source of radiation exposure. It is used industrially in leveling gauges and to x-ray welding seams and other structural elements to detect flaws. Co-60 also is used for food irradiation, a sterilization process.

Where is cobalt-59 found?

Cobalt is found in the minerals cobaltite, skutterudite and erythrite. Important ore deposits are found in DR Congo, Canada, Australia, Zambia and Brazil. Most cobalt is formed as a by-product of nickel refining.

What are the benefits of using cobalt-60?

The advantages of Co/sup 60/ therapy over conventional x-ray therapy, stemming from the fact that in the lst instance energy absorption within the tissues is by the Compton effect and in the 2nd case by the photoelectric effect, are: (1) increased skin tolerance, (2) reduced bone absorption, (3) increase in depth dose,

How does cobalt-59 become cobalt-60?

Cobalt-60 is artificially produced by bombarding a target material, either cobalt-59 or nickel-60, with neutrons. This reaction is produced by nuclear weapons detonations and in nuclear reactors. IS COBALT-60 HAZARDOUS? Cobalt-60 emits two high energy gamma rays, making cobalt-60 both an internal and external hazard.

What is the difference between two isotopes?

Different isotopes of an element have the same number of protons in the nucleus, giving them the same atomic number, but a different number of neutrons giving each elemental isotope a different atomic weight.

Why is cobalt-60 so radioactive?

Cobalt-60 decays by beta and gamma emission to non-radioactive nickel. Most of the radiation from the decay of cobalt- 60 is in the form of gamma emissions; some is in the form of beta particles. Beta particles are generally absorbed in the skin and do not pass through the entire body.

What are 3 uses of cobalt?

Cobalt is used in many alloys (superalloys for parts in gas turbine aircrafr engines, corrosion resistant alloys, high-speed steels, cemented carbides), in magents and magnetic recording media, as catalysts for the petroleum and chemical industries, as drying agents for paints and inks.

What does the 60 mean in cobalt-60?

: a heavy radioactive isotope of cobalt having the mass number 60 produced in nuclear reactors and used as a source of gamma rays especially in place of radium (as in the treatment of cancer and in radiography)

Is cobalt-60 natural or man made?

Cobalt-60 is not found in nature. It is a synthetic radioactive isotope made by neutron activation of Cobalt-59. Cobalt-60 is produced off site in nuclear reactors and transported in special shipping containers (casks) to the sterilization facility.

Is Cobalt-59 unstable?

Cobalt-59 is naturally occurring and is stable. Cobalt-50 through 58 and 60 through 75 are artificially produced and are radioactive.

What color is raw cobalt?

silver colour
Cobalt, is symbol Co on the periodic table with an atomic weight of 27. While in it’s natural, raw state it’s a somewhat burnished silver colour, it is famously known for producing vibrant blues in pigments. The pigments are made by heating aluminum silicates with cobalt and heating to 1200°C.

Is cobalt-60 stable or radioactive?

radioactive
cobalt-60, radioactive isotope of cobalt used in industry and medicine. Cobalt-60 is the longest-lived radioactive isotope of cobalt, with a half-life of 5.27 years. It is produced by irradiating the stable isotope cobalt-59 with neutrons in a nuclear reactor.

Can cobalt-60 destroy bacteria?

The gamma irradiation process uses Cobalt 60 radiation to kill microorganisms on a variety of different products in a specially designed cell. Gamma radiation is generated by the decay of the radioisotope Cobalt 60, with the resultant high energy photons being an effective sterilant.

Is cobalt-60 harmful to the environment?

Although cobalt is an essential trace element, it is toxic when concentration levels are too high. Protection criteria based on cobalt ecotoxicity data have been defined for the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Its radiotoxicity is also known for these environments. Cobalt is a grey, lustrous, ferromagnetic metal.

Is cobalt-60 still used?

Cobalt-60 is used as a radiation source in many common industrial applications, such as in leveling devices and thickness gauges. It is also used for radiation therapy in hospitals.

What is the most radioactive thing on earth?

radium
The radioactivity of radium then must be enormous. This substance is the most radioactive natural element, a million times more so than uranium.

What is the sad of cobalt-60?

Cobalt-60, decays to Nickel-60, (⁶⁰Ni₂₈) by the emission of beta particle.

What are called isotopes?

Isotopes are members of a family of an element that all have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons. The number of protons in a nucleus determines the element’s atomic number on the Periodic Table.

What are called isobars?

isobar, in nuclear physics, any member of a group of atomic or nuclear species all of which have the same mass number—that is, the same total number of protons and neutrons. Thus, chlorine-37 and argon-37 are isobars.