It does get me thinkign of the wierd life of Isotopes.. .. I read about 99<\/sup>Tc . <\/p>\n It was discovered in 1938 by Emilio Segr\u00e8<\/a> and Glenn T. Seaborg<\/a> after bombarding natural molybdenum with 8 MeV deuterons<\/a> in the 37-inch (940 mm) cyclotron<\/a> of Ernest Orlando Lawrence<\/a>‘s Radiation laboratory<\/a>.[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/sup><\/p>\n I learned that the doeses.. which are only useful fro about 6 hours are made locally by a company in Willisont using soemthing called a ‘Moly Cow” .. .. which Wikipedia helpfully explains thus:<\/p>\n Technetium-99m’s short half-life of 6 hours makes storage impossible and would make transport very expensive. It is instead its parent nuclide 99<\/sup>Mo that is supplied to hospitals after its extraction from the neutron-irradiated uranium targets and its purification in dedicated processing facilities.[notes 1]<\/a><\/sup>[56]<\/a><\/sup> It is shipped by specialised radiopharmaceutical companies in the form of technetium-99m generators<\/a> worldwide or directly distributed to the local market. The generators, colloquially known as a moly cows, are devices designed to provide radiation shielding for transport and to minimize the extraction work done at the medical facility. A typical dose rate at 1 metre from Tc-99m generator is 20-50 \u03bcSv\/h<\/a> during transport.[57]<\/a><\/sup> These generators’ output declines with time and must be replaced weekly, since the half-life of 99<\/sup>Mo is still only 66 hours.<\/p>\n Molybdenum-99 spontaneously decays to excited states of 99<\/sup>Tc through beta decay<\/a>. Over 87% of the decays lead to the 142 keV excited state of Tc-99m. A At the hospital, the 99m<\/sup>Tc that forms through 99<\/sup>Mo decay is chemically extracted from the technetium-99m generator. Most commercial 99<\/sup>Mo\/99m<\/sup>Tc generators use column chromatography<\/a>, in which 99<\/sup>Mo in the form of water-soluble molybdate, MoO4<\/sub>2\u2212<\/sup> is adsorbed<\/a> onto acid alumina (Al2<\/sub>O3<\/sub>). When the 99<\/sup>Mo decays, it forms pertechnetate<\/a> TcO4<\/sub>\u2212<\/sup>, which, because of its single charge, is less tightly bound to the alumina. Pulling normal saline solution through the column of immobilized 99<\/sup>MoO4<\/sub>2\u2212<\/sup>elutes<\/a> the soluble 99m<\/sup>TcO4<\/sub>\u2212<\/sup>, resulting in a saline solution containing the 99m<\/sup>Tc as the dissolved sodium salt of the pertechnetate<\/a>. One technetium-99m generator, holding only a few micrograms of 99<\/sup>Mo, can potentially diagnose 10,000 patients[citation needed<\/span><\/a><\/i>]<\/sup> because it will be producing 99m<\/sup>Tc strongly for over a week.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well.. that makes me feel better<\/p>\n The only let down.. is that I don’t appear to have gained any super powers<\/p>\n shucks<\/p>\n nite all, nite sam<\/p>\n -me<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am radioactive !… At least for the next couple of hours . I had a cardiac stress test today.. as I do about every 5 years.; it’s something my doc has me do bcause of the family history we have.. it’s kinda fun.. you get on a treadmill then they shoot you up … Continue reading Monday night – Technetium<\/span> ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/tc.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n
\n\u03b2\u2212<\/sup>electron<\/a>and a \u03bde<\/sub>electron antineutrino<\/a> are emitted in the process (99<\/sup>Mo \u2192 99m<\/sup>Tc + \u03b2\u2212<\/sup>+ \u03bde<\/sub>). The \u03b2\u2212<\/sup>
\nelectrons are easily shielded<\/a> for transport, and 99m<\/sup>Tc generators are only minor radiation hazards, mostly due to secondary X-rays produced by the electrons (also known as Bremsstrahlung<\/a><\/i>).<\/p>\n