Patent No. 6,415,009 (granted in 2002) is titled, "Method for producing a coiled body for irradiating radioactive radiation."
What could it mean to irradiate radioactive radiation? When I came across the phrase I had to stop and think about it.
The text of the patent unfortunately didn't provide any clarification, although it did reveal that all this irradiating is being done in the context of brachytherapy (
from wikipedia: "a form of radiation therapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment").
The phrase "radioactive radiation" actually does make sense to me. Radiation is a catch-all term for the emission of any kind of electromagnetic energy. So 'radioactive radiation' would be high-energy or
ionizing radiation, as opposed to, say, low-energy heat radiation.
But I'm still confused what they mean by irradiating radioactive radiation? Does it mean to make radioactive radiation even more radioactive?
Or are they misusing the word 'irradiate'? My dictionary indicates that 'irradiate' means either to be exposed to radiation or to be illuminated by radiation. The sun radiates or emits light, and the earth is irradiated by its light.
So did the patentees mean 'emitting' rather than 'irradiating'? I'm just not sure. If anyone can figure out what the phrase means, let me know.
Category: Science | Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters | Patents