Why isn't carbon 14 useful in nuclear medicine.
Question asked by: nick90
Asked on: 05 Feb 2010
The half life is way too long at about 5,700 years.
This makes it great for dating really old things, but it means that when it is added to the body it doesn\'t break down quickly enough for medicine they need really unstable isotopes, in the sense of decaying down to something that is safe for the body quickly and therefore not subjecting them to lots of radiation for a long period of time.
Plus your body naturally contains carbon-14 taken in from your food so this might confuse matters too.
By: knowitall
Replied at: 07 Feb 2010
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