Ionising Radiation
Quantum and Nuclear
Radioactive sources: isotopes and availability
Teaching Guidance
for 14-16
In the UK, education suppliers stock only these three isotopes in sealed sources:
| cobalt-60 | pure gamma (provided the low energy betas are filtered out) |
| strontium-90 | pure beta |
| americium-241 | alpha and some gamma |
They are shown with the radiations that they emit.
However, you may have other sources in your school or Local Authority and, as long as you follow your school safety policy and local rules, you can use these in schools. The ones that are useful for practical work are:
| radium-226 | alpha, beta and gamma |
| plutonium-239 | pure alpha |
| caesium-137 | beta, then gamma (from its decay product, metastable Ba-137) |
For safety information:
