Ionizing Radiation Flashcards
What is radiation activity?
The number of atoms ionizing per unit of time. Activity is the number of decay/time.
What are the two units used for radiation activity?
- Becquerel (bq): 1 disintegration per second
- Curie: 3.7x10¹⁰ disintegration per second
What is absorbed dose?
The amount of ionization energy absorbed by a mass. It’s the amount of radiation absorbed and deposited in matter. Absorbed dose will not tell you the impact that radiation has on a tissue.
What is the equivalent dose?
The equivalent dose addresses the impact that the type of radiation has on specific tissues, using radiation weighting factors for the different types of radiation.
What are the unit for absorbed dose?
Rad (joule/kg aka energy/mass)
What is dose equivalent?
Numerically equivalent to absorbed dose, but you multiply the rads by a quality factor (QF) to indicate biological effectiveness
Dose equivalent formula
Rem = QF*rad
Quality factor for alpha radiation
20
Quality factor for beta radiation
1
Quality factor for gamma radiation
1
What is the LD₅₀ for dose equivalent?
500 rem
Rad pnuemonic
Radiation absorbed dose
Rem pneumonic
Radiation equivalent man
What is biological half life?
Biological half life is the amount of time radioactive materials spend in the body
What is effective half life?
Used to determine the total dose from ingested substances
