In Chapter 7 (A Chemist Looks At: Zapping Hamburger with...

Name: Problem 31, Chapter 20: General Chemistry
Uploaded: 2021-09-17T13:37:14-08:00
Duration: 1 min 46 s
Channel: David Collins
Description: In Chapter 7 (A Chemist Looks At: Zapping Hamburger with Gamma Rays) there is a discussion of how gamma radiation is used to kill bacteria in food. As indicated in the feature, there is concern on the part of some people that the irradiated food is radioactive. Why is this not the case? If you wanted to make the food radioactive, what would you have to do?

In Chapter 7 (A Chemist Looks At: Zapping Hamburger with Gamma Rays) there is a discussion of how gamma radiation is used to kill bacteria in food. As indicated in the feature, there is concern on the part of some people that the irradiated food is radioactive. Why is this not the case? If you wanted to make the food radioactive, what would you have to do?

Key Concepts

Induced Radioactivity (Activation)

Induced radioactivity occurs when stable materials become radioactive through exposure to certain types of radiation, such as a flux of neutrons, which can alter the nuclei of atoms. To make food radioactive intentionally, a process like neutron activation would be required. However, typical food irradiation procedures using gamma rays do not supply the necessary conditions to induce such changes.

Radioactivity

Radioactivity involves the spontaneous emission of particles or electromagnetic radiation from an unstable atomic nucleus as it decays to a more stable state. In contrast to gamma irradiation, simply exposing food to gamma rays does not convert stable nuclei into unstable ones, which is why irradiated food remains non-radioactive.

Food Irradiation

Food irradiation is the process of exposing food products to controlled amounts of gamma rays, X-rays, or electron beams to eliminate bacteria, parasites, or spoilage organisms. This treatment does not make the food radioactive, as the process involves energy transfer that alters molecular structures rather than changing the nuclei of the atoms.

Gamma Radiation

Gamma radiation is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation that can penetrate materials and kill bacteria by damaging their DNA. In the context of food irradiation, gamma rays are used to sterilize food without making it radioactive because they interact with the electrons, not the nuclei, of the atoms in the food.

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