ABSTRACT
Activation analysis has become, because of its extremely high sensitivity, an indispensable tool in a wide variety of fields in science and engineering industry, minerals exploration, medicine, environmental monitoring, and forensic science. The purpose of this chapter is not to present all the aspects, details, and applications of this field, but to discuss the major steps that comprise the method, the interpretation of the results, the errors and sensitivity of the method, and certain representative applications. Reactions using charged particles as the projectiles are also used in activation analysis. Photon activation complements neutron and charged-particle activation. Intensities, energies, and special characteristics of the various radiation sources are briefly discussed in this chapter. Depending on the selected reaction, irradiation of the sample may take place in a nuclear reactor, in an accelerator, or with an isotopic source. One of the greatest advantages of activation analysis is its ability to detect most of the isotopes with an extremely high sensitivity.
