Calcium (Ca) is a reactive yellow metal made of four isotopes (Ca-42,44,46,48) that are used extensively in nutritional studies. Calcium-47 is an artificially-obtained radiooactive isotope that occurs when Calcium-46 is irradiated in a nuclear reactor.
The isotope of Calcium-47 has unique radioactive tracing properties and is one of the mos tvaluable tools in nutritional studies and medicine. Whenever introduced into a cancer patient, Calcium-47's isotope starts emitting abnormal concentrations of gamma rays that help locate the tumor more accurately.
Calcium-47 is used in medicine to investigate bone metabolism problems or to diagnose calcium disorders. It is also used in the biomedical research of animals to study the cellular body function and the formation of bones in mammals.
Calcium ions are beneficial for the human body, but if they are ingested in large numbers, they become cytotoxic, which means that they get inside the cells of the body and cause serious cellular damage.