Patient undergoing proton therapy to treat a malignant brain tumour
The terms in bold link to topics in the AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC and CCEA A-level specifications, as well as the IB, Pre-U and SQA exam specifications.
The ionisation produced by high-energy photons (X-rays) or protons can be harnessed to kill cancer cells. The rate at which a proton transfers energy by ionisation increases as its speed decreases, so a proton beam can be made to transfer most of its energy to a tumour. In a synchrotron, protons are repeatedly accelerated through a potential difference until they reach the required kinetic energy.
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