Activity of an isotope or material

The becquerel (symbol Bq) (pronounced: 'be-k-rel) is the SI-derived unit of radioactivity. One Bq is defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. This measurement applies directly to the source and represents decay product per time unit. SI unit: 1 becquerel = 1 disintegration per second Conventional unit: 1 curie = 37 billion disintegrations per second.

Relationship to the curie

The curie (Ci) is an older, non-SI unit of radioactivity equal to the activity of 1 gram of radium-226. 1 curie (Ci) = 37 gigabecquerel (GBq) 1 gigabecquerel (GBq) = 27 millicurie (mCi) The conversion factors are: 1 Ci = 3.71010 Bq 1 Ci = 37 GBq 1 Ci = 37,000 Bq 1 Bq = 2.701011 Ci 1 Bq = 2.70105 Ci 1 GBq = 0.0270 Ci

Bq versus counts per second

When measuring radioactivity of a sample with a detector, a unit of "counts per second" (cps) or "counts per minute" (cpm) is often used. These units can be converted to the absolute activity of the sample in Bq if one applies a number of significant conversions, e.g., for the radiation background, for the detector efficiency, for the counting geometry, for self-absorption of the radiation in the sample.

Counts per minute (CPM)

Counts per minute (cpm) is a measure of radioactivity. It is the number of atoms in a given quantity of radioactive material that are detected to have decayed in one minute. Disintegrations per minute (dpm) is also a measure of radioactivity. It is the number of atoms in a given quantity of radioactive material that decay in one minute. Dpm is similar to cpm, however the efficiency of the radiation detector (e.g. scintillation counter) must be accounted for when analysing data in cpm. Dpm is the number of atoms that have decayed, not the number of atoms that have been measured as decayed. Dpm is commonly used as a measure of radioactive contamination. One becquerel (Bq) is equal to one disintegration per second; One becquerel (Bq) is equal to 60 dpm. One curie (Ci) is equal to 3.7 x 10 10 Bq or dps, which is equal to 2.22 x 1012 dpm. The counts per minute is an aggregate measurement that detects all decay events at a particular point. This could be alpha particles, beta particles or mixed gamma/beta, gamma/alpha, alpha/beta actual decays. This can be used with a conversion factor, knowing the type and composition of materials to

convert to Roentgen or Coulomb per kilogram. Counts per minute can be useful when detector efficiency is in question.

Dose equivalent
The dose equivalent is a measure of biological effect for whole body irradiation. The dose equivalent is equal to the product of the absorbed dose and the Quality Factor. The equivalent dose to a tissue is found by multiplying the absorbed dose, in gray, by a weighting factor (WR). The relation between absorbed dose D and equivalent dose H is thus: . The weighting factor (sometimes referred to as a quality factor) is determined by the radiation type and energy range.

where HT is the equivalent dose absorbed by tissue T DT,R is the absorbed dose in tissue T by radiation type R WR is the weighting factor defined by the following table The Quality Factor (Q) depends on the type of radiation: X-ray, Gamma ray, or beta radiation: Q = 1 alpha particles: Q = 20 neutrons of unknown energy: Q = 10 conventional units: dose equivalent (rems) is the product of dose (rads) and Q SI units: dose equivalent (sieverts) is the product of dose (grays) and Q Conversion 1 Sievert (Sv) = 100 rem 1 rem = 0.01 Sievert (Sv)

Sievert
It attempts to quantitatively evaluate the biological effects of ionizing radiation as opposed to the physical aspects, which are characterised by the absorbed dose, measured in gray. The unit gray measures the absorbed dose of radiation (D), absorbed by any material. The unit sievert measures the equivalent dose of radiation (H), having the same damaging effect as an equal dose of gamma rays. Both the gray, with symbol Gy and the sievert, with symbol Sv are SI derived units, defined as a unit of energy (joule) per unit of mass (kilogram): 1 Gy = 1 Sv = 1 J / kg SI multiples and conversions Frequently used SI multiples are the millisievert (1 mSv = 0.001 Sv) and microsievert (1 Sv = 0.000001 Sv).

An older unit for the equivalent dose, is the rem, still often used in the United States. One sievert is equal to 100 rem:

1 rem = 0.01 Sv = 10 mSv 1 mrem = 0.01 mSv = 10 Sv 1 Sv = 100 rem 1 mSv = 100 mrem = 0.1 rem 1 Sv = 0.1 mrem

The conventional units for its time derivative is mSv/h.

Radiation absorbed dose (rad)

The rad is a unit of radiation absorbed dose. The rad was first proposed in 1918 as "that quantity of X rays which when absorbed will cause the destruction of the malignant mammalian cells in question..." It was defined in CGS units in 1953 as the dose causing 100 ergs of energy to be absorbed by one gram of matter. It was restated in SI units in 1970 as the dose causing 0.01 joule of energy to be absorbed per kilogram of matter. Under exposure a given material has an ability to absorb radiation. This differs with certain materials (think lead versus water) and some will absorb more or less as radiation passes through. Conventional units: A dose of 1 rad means the absorption of 100 ergs of radiation energy per gram of absorbing material SI units: A dose of 1 gray means the absorption of 1 joule of radiation energy per kilogram of absorbing material conversion 1 Gy = 100 rad 1 rad = 0.01 Gy

Gray
The gray (symbol: Gy) is the SI unit of absorbed radiation dose of ionizing radiation (for example, X-rays), and is defined as the absorption of one joule of ionizing radiation by one kilogram of matter (usually human tissue).

Effective dose
The effective dose of radiation (E), absorbed by a person is obtained by averaging over all irradiated tissues with weighting factors adding up to 1:

Roentgen equivalent man

The roentgen equivalent in man (or mammal) or rem (symbol rem) is a unit of radiation dose equivalent of any ionizing radiation with a magnitude of 93 ergs per gram. It is the product of the absorbed dose in rads

and a weighting factor, WR, which accounts for the effectiveness of the radiation to cause biological damage. It has been superseded by the rad.

Exposure
Exposure is a quantity that expresses the radiation delivered to a point at a certain distance. 1 roentgen (R) = 258 microcoulomb/kg (C/kg) 1 millicoulomb/kg mC/kg = 3876 milliroentgen (mR)

Roentgen
The roentgen (R, also rntgen) is a unit of measurement for exposure to ionizing radiation (such as X-ray and gamma rays), and is named after the German physicist Wilhelm Rntgen. Adopted in 1928, 1 R is the amount of radiation required to liberate positive and negative charges of one electrostatic unit of charge (esu or StatCoulomb) in one cubic centimeter of dry air at standard temperature and pressure (STP). This corresponds to the generation of approximately 2.0819109 ion pairs. Conversion In SI units, 1 R = 2.58104 C/kg (from 1 esu 3.335641010 C and the standard atmosphere air density of ~1.293 kg/m).

Unit conversion
1.0000 rem = 0.0010 rem = 1000.0 mrem = 1 rem = 0.010000 Sv = 1.0 mrem = 1 mrem = 0.000010 Sv = 10.000 mSv = 0.010 mSv = 10000 Sv 10 Sv

100.0000 rem = 100000.0 mrem = 1 Sv = 1.000000 Sv = 1000.000 mSv = 1000000 Sv 0.1000 rem = 100.0 mrem = 1 mSv = 0.001000 Sv = 1.000 mSv = 1000 Sv 0.0001 rem = 0.1 mrem = 1 Sv = 0.000001 Sv = 0.001 mSv = 1 Sv