Annihilation in PET Scanning (Cambridge International A-Level Physics)

The Process of Annihilation

• When a positron is emitted from a tracer in the body, it travels less than a millimetre before it collides with an electron

• The positron and the electron will annihilate, which means

  • their mass is converted into energy
  • two gamma rays are produced and move apart in opposite directions

• Annihilation doesn’t just happen with electrons and positrons, it can occur between any particle and its antimatter counterpart

• Annihilation is defined as: When a particle meets its equivalent antiparticle they are both destroyed and their mass is converted into energy

• As with any collision, mass, energy and momentum are always conserved

Annihilation between an electron and positron

When a positron and electron annihilate, their mass is converted into two gamma-ray photons

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scanning

Spec point — 24.3.2

• Once the tracer is introduced to the body it has a short half-life, so, it begins emitting positrons (β⁺) immediately

  • This allows for a short exposure time to the radiation
  • A short half-life does mean the patient needs to be scanned quickly and not all hospitals have access to expensive PET scanners

• In PET scanning:

  • Positrons are emitted by the decay of the tracer
  • They travel a small distance and annihilate when they interact with electrons in the tissue
  • This annihilation produces a pair of gamma-ray photons which travel in opposite directions

PET scan

Annihilation of a positron and an electron is the basis of PET Scanning