nuclear medicine

(noun)

The branch of medicine that uses radioactive isotopes in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Related Terms

Examples of nuclear medicine in the following topics:

  • Isotopes in Medicine

    • Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty that involves the application of radioactive substances to diagnose or treat disease.
    • Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty that involves the application of radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of a disease.
    • In nuclear medicine procedures, radionuclides are combined with other elements to form chemical compounds.
    • This property of radiopharmaceuticals allows nuclear medicine the ability to image the extent of a disease process in the body.
    • The radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine therapy emit ionizing radiation that travels only a short distance.

  • Aluminosilicates

    • Zeolites are used for a variety of tasks, including purifying water, catalyzing reactions, preparing certain advanced materials, and nuclear reprocessing.
    • They are used most frequently in the production of laundry detergents, but are also used in medicine and in agriculture.

  • Nuclear Reactors

    • A nuclear reactor is a piece of equipment in which nuclear chain reactions can be harnessed to produce energy in a controlled way.
    • The energy released from nuclear fission can be harnessed to make electricity with a nuclear reactor.
    • A nuclear reactor is a piece of equipment where nuclear chain reactions can be controlled and sustained.
    • However, nuclear reactors produce nuclear waste containing radioactive elements.
    • Describe the nuclear chain reaction process utilized in most nuclear reactors

  • Nuclear Fission

    • Nuclear fission occurs when an atom splits into two or more smaller atoms, most often the as the result of neutron bombardment.
    • Nuclear fission is a process by which the nucleus of an atom is split into two or more smaller nuclei, known as fission products.
    • The strong nuclear force is the force between two or more nucleons.
    • In atoms with small nuclei, the strong nuclear force overpowers the electromagnetic force.
    • As the nucleus gets bigger, the electromagnetic force becomes greater than the strong nuclear force.

  • Nuclear Stability

    • An isotope's nuclear stability depends on the balance of electric and nuclear forces between its protons and neutrons and their arrangement.
    • In nuclear physics, stability of an atom's nucleus depends on the number of protons and neutrons it contains.
    • This force is offset by the nuclear force, which attracts protons and neutrons.
    • This is because, for any constant number of protons, the difference between nuclear force and electrostatic repulsion of protons increases with increasing neutron count.

  • Nitrogen Compounds

    • The comparatively stable, but less powerful explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) is the standard explosive against which the power of nuclear explosions are measured.
    • Nitrogen is a constituent of molecules in every major drug class in pharmacology and medicine.

  • Nuclear Binding Energy and Mass Defect

    • Once mass defect is known, nuclear binding energy can be calculated by converting that mass to energy by using E=mc2.
    • This energy—available as nuclear energy—can be used to produce nuclear power or build nuclear weapons.
    • Nuclear binding energy is also used to determine whether fission or fusion will be a favorable process.
    • As such, there is a peak at iron-56 on the nuclear binding energy curve.
    • Calculate the mass defect and nuclear binding energy of an atom

  • Nuclear Fusion

    • Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together to form a single heavier nucleus and large amounts of energy.
    • Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse," to form a single heavier nucleus.
    • This force, called the strong nuclear force, overcomes electric repulsion in a very close range.
    • At nucleus radii distances, the attractive nuclear force is stronger than the repulsive electrostatic force.
    • Describe the electrostatic and strong nuclear forces and how they act to oppose or promote a fusion reaction

  • Balancing Nuclear Equations

    • To balance a nuclear equation, the mass number and atomic numbers of all particles on either side of the arrow must be equal.
    • Nuclear reactions may be shown in a form similar to chemical equations, for which invariant mass, which is the mass not considering the mass defect, must balance for each side of the equation.
    • Instead of using the full equations in the style above, in many situations a compact notation is used to describe nuclear reactions.
    • In balancing a nuclear equation, it is important to remember that the sum of all the mass numbers and atomic numbers, given on the upper left and lower left side of the element symbol, respectively, must be equal for both sides of the equation.
    • Describes how to write the nuclear equations for alpha and beta decay.

  • The Shielding Effect and Effective Nuclear Charge

    • The shielding effect, approximated by the effective nuclear charge, is due to inner electrons shielding valence electrons from the nucleus.
    • As an approximation, we can estimate the effective nuclear charge on each electron.
    • The effective nuclear charge on an electron is given by the following equation:
    • What is the effective nuclear charge for each?
    • Diagram of the concept of effective nuclear charge based on electron shielding.