Problem: Tests on human subjects in Boston in 1965 and 1966, following the era of atomic bomb testing, revealed average quantities of about 2 pCi of plutonium radioactivity in the average person.If each alpha particle deposits 8 x 10 - 13 J of energy and if the average person weighs 76 kg , calculate the number of rads and rems of radiation in 4 yr from such a level of plutonium.
FREE Expert Solution
1 Ci = 3.7 x 1010 disintegrations per second
1 rad = 0.01 or 10-2 J/kg
1 rem = QF x rad
Biological damage factor (alpha particle) = 20
0.074 disintegrations per second
Absorbed dose (rad):
Problem Details
Tests on human subjects in Boston in 1965 and 1966, following the era of atomic bomb testing, revealed average quantities of about 2 pCi of plutonium radioactivity in the average person.
If each alpha particle deposits 8 x 10 - 13 J of energy and if the average person weighs 76 kg , calculate the number of rads and rems of radiation in 4 yr from such a level of plutonium.
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