As the question in the title states I am wondering what material can be effectively used to shield gamma rays apart from lead? I believe concrete is often used, but it is nowhere near as effective as lead (6 cm to match 1 cm of lead as I understand it). I also hear significant bodies of water helps, as does tightly packed dirt, but surely there must be other materials that shield nearly as effectively as lead?
Answer
There is nothing magical about lead for this purpose. The driving factor is the number of electrons per unit volume, which reduces (to a first approximation) to the mass density.
You get very good (better than lead) shielding performance from gold, tungsten, mercury, etc; and quite reasonable performance from iron or copper.
Question for the student: why is lead such a common choice for this application?
No comments:
Post a Comment