What is the decay of cesium 137?

barium-137m
How does cesium change in the environment? Cesium-137 decays in the environment by emitting beta particles. As noted above, cesium-137 decays to a short lived decay product, barium-137m. The latter isotope emits gamma radiation of moderate energy, which further decays to a stable form of barium.

What type of radiation does cesium 137 emit?

gamma rays
A Cs-137 atom emits radiation in the form of medium energy gamma rays, and to a lesser extent, high-energy beta particles, which disrupt molecules in cells and deposits energy in tissues, causing damage.

What is the specific activity of Cs-137?

3.2 10^12 Bq/g
Specific activity of Cs-137 is 3.2 10^12 Bq/g.

Can cesium-137 explode?

Cesium-137 is an especially dangerous fission product because of its high yield during fission, moderate half-life, high-energy decay pathway, and chemical reactivity.

What does cesium 137 do to the human body?

External exposure to large amounts of Cs-137 can cause burns, acute radiation sickness, and even death. Exposure to Cs-137 can increase the risk for cancer because of exposure to high-energy gamma radiation.

Where is cesium 137 found?

Cesium-137 is found in the liquid and airborne waste stream of nuclear reactors, but is not released to the environment, beyond trace levels in the liquid effluent, during normal nuclear reactor operations. It is likely to be released as a part of a nuclear reactor accident due to its volatility.

How long does it take for cesium 137 to decay?

Radioactive isotopes eventually decay, or disintegrate, to harmless materials. Some isotopes decay in hours or even minutes, but others decay very slowly. Strontium-90 and cesium-137 have half-lives of about 30 years (half the radioactivity will decay in 30 years). Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years.

How hot is the elephant’s foot 2020?

Melting at over 3,600°F (2,000°C) the uranium and zirconium, together with melted metal, formed radioactive lava burning through the steel hull of the reactor and concrete foundations at a speed of 12 inches (30 cm) per hour.

What are the health effects of Cesium 137?

Individuals subjected to large amounts of caesium-137 are likely experience similar effects if one were exposed to any other radionuclides; moreover, individuals may experience acute radiation syndrome, which includes such effects as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, coma, and even death.

What is the nuclear decay reaction of caesium 137?

Cesium-137 undergoes high-energy beta decay, primarily to an excited nuclear isomer of Barium 137, which in turn undergoes gamma decay with a half-life of about 150 seconds. [4] The energies of both the beta decay of cesium-137 and the subsequent gamma decay of the excited barium 137 are 512 keV and 662 keV, respectively. [4]

What is half life of Cs 137?

Caesium -137 has a half-life of about 30.17 years. About 94.6% decays by beta emission to a metastable nuclear isomer of barium: barium-137m ( 137mBa, Ba-137m).

What is the half life of cesium?

The biological half-life of caesium is about 70 days. A 1972 experiment showed that when dogs are subjected to a whole body burden of 3800 μCi/kg (140 MBq /kg, or approximately 44 μg/kg) of caesium-137 (and 950 to 1400 rads), they die within 33 days, while animals with half of that burden all survived for a year.