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.

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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

$\mathbf{2}\mathbf{ }\cancel{\mathbf{pCi}}\mathbf{\times }\frac{{\mathbf{10}}^{\mathbf{-}\mathbf{12}}\mathbf{ }\cancel{\mathbf{Ci}}}{\mathbf{1}\mathbf{ }\cancel{\mathbf{pCi}}}\mathbf{\times }\frac{\mathbf{3}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{7}\mathbf{\times }{\mathbf{10}}^{\mathbf{10}}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{disintegrations}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{per}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{second}}{\mathbf{1}\mathbf{ }\cancel{\mathbf{Ci}}}\mathbf{=}$0.074 disintegrations per second

Absorbed dose (rad):