Why Is Lead So Good At Blocking Radiation?

It’s mostly a matter of density and practicality. Lead is the densest and inexpensive substance. Many types of radiation are stopped or scattered by the enormous stable nuclei of its atoms and the resulting massive electron cloud surrounding them.

Lead shielding does not totally block gamma rays, but it attenuates them faster than any other inexpensive material (as they pass through it).

Can Gold be used to defend against X-rays and Gamma rays instead of Lead?

Gold is denser than Lead and more effective in absorbing gamma radiation, but there are two caveats:

• The cost of shielding per square meter would be substantially greater.
• Because the Z of Lead is more significant than Gold, the photoelectron effect and the Compton effect would have a more challenging time converting gamma photons into fast-moving electrons and lower energy photons. This change would be insignificant. I’m not sure how different Gold’s photonuclear and pair formation processes are from those in Lead.

Platinum is very thick, but it is also quite costly. Uranium-238 is the closest thing to a denser, more affordable option (purely in terms of density), but it is also radioactive. Therefore, it isn’t often utilized for this purpose. It also emerges from the earth coupled with compounds that are radioactively more powerful than it.

Because concrete is so inexpensive and convenient, it’s common to use a large amount of it to limit radiation from a small amount of Lead. Water can also be utilized, but since it is not solid at room temperature, you wouldn’t want to wear an apron made of it while working with radiation. Furthermore, you’d need a lot of water to have the same radiation-stopping capability as a thin lead apron. Water has roughly one-eleventh the density of Lead, so to accomplish the same impact, you’d need approximately eleven times the thickness.

Lead vs. Other Metals

Many compounds that aren’t classified as radioactive have a very long half-life. Assuming it has one, Lead’s half-life is so long that it is almost undetectable as a radioactive substance.

Another factor to consider is that whatever you use to halt radiation, it’s preferable if it doesn’t quickly turn radioactive. This might rule out uranium, which is so unstable that it readily transforms into other radioactive isotopes or chemicals. 

Because Lead is so stable, it frequently seems to be the final product of radioactive decay chains. It can be transmuted into Gold by radioactive bombardment, but I assume (and may be incorrect) that making Lead shielding radioactive, particularly with gamma rays, will be difficult. 

Because gamma rays are more likely to be dispersed if they don’t make it through the lead shielding, neutrons tend to do that much more than gamma rays. The stable lead isotope might be transmuted into something else if neutrons are absorbed.

How Lead Can Be Used As Radioactive Protection

In x-ray equipment, nuclear power stations, laboratories, medical centers, military equipment, and other areas where radiation may be encountered, Lead is utilized as a shielding material. 

There is a wide range of shielding options available to protect individuals as well as equipment and experiments. Lead castles, for example, are built to screen the probe from ambient radiation in gamma spectroscopy. Lead aprons, thyroid shields, and lead gloves are examples of personal shielding. 

Lead buildings, lead bricks, solid Lead or lead-lined containers for storing radioactive material are among the shielding measures available for laboratory equipment. Construction using lead-lined plywood and drywall is required in locations where radiation is generated to protect nearby rooms from scatter radiation.