Radioactive+Tracers-Worksheet

· Helps with the transportation and is efficient assimilation of the nutrients that the organisms synthesise, get from their environment or digest. · Radioactive isotopes are used in the study of living organisms, to diagnose and treat diseases and for many other reasons. · ** A tracer is a radioactive isotope of an element whose pathway through which a chemical reaction can be followed. ** · They are commonly used in the medical field and in the study of plants and animals. · In plants and animals tracers are used to follow the movement of certain chemicals. · In plants they take up phosphorus from the soil they small amount of radioactive phosphorus, it is possible for them to calculate the rate of uptake of phosphorus from the soil. · Can be also used to map the path of carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis. · Can measure pesticide levels they can calculate how much is in the soil and how much is taken up from the soil to the plant and how much is carried off in the run-off surface water by adding radioactive chlorine. · In animals for example humans they can use tracers to identify abnormal bodily processes. · They add a compound doped with a radioactive element where it picks up iodine in the thyroid, phosphorus in the bones and potassium in the organs.
 * Radioactive Tracers **