Video Transcript
Which of the following is a use of
nuclear radiation in the manufacturing of objects? Is it (A) heating the objects, (B)
showing the positions of bacteria on the objects, or (C) generating electricity in
the objects?
Firstly, recall that nuclear
radiation has industrial uses. This means that nuclear radiation
can be useful for manufacturing products. Some examples of products that are
manufactured using nuclear radiation include tires, very tough plastics, and some
insulating materials. We need to consider what things
might need to happen when manufacturing such products. For example, would manufacturing
these products need to involve showing the positions of bacteria on them? Perhaps it would be important to
kill bacteria on the products, and nuclear radiation could do that. Nuclear radiation could easily kill
bacteria on products by radiating the whole product. It would not be necessary to know
exactly where on the product bacteria were.
We see then that showing where
bacteria were on products would not be important in manufacturing them, and so we
reject option (B). So, now we can ask, would
manufacturing products like tires, plastics, and insulators need to involve
generating electricity in them? These sorts of products would
typically not be able to carry electric currents, especially insulators. Even if these objects could carry
electric currents, there is no reason why they would need to carry electric
currents. We see then that generating
electricity in the products would not be important in manufacturing them, and so we
reject option (C).
Increasing the temperature of a
material has uses in manufacturing. For example, melting a solid object
makes it easier to form the object into a desired shape before it cools and
solidifies in the desired shape. Nuclear radiation can be used to
produce high temperatures, since nuclear radiation can transfer thermal energy to an
object. So, we see that the correct answer
to the question is option (A). Heating objects during the
manufacturing process is an application of nuclear radiation.
