[ RadSafe ] RadSafe Digest, Vol 1445, Issue 1

Mon Nov 18 14:09:42 CST 2013

Excellent job Mr. Brennan. And lest the comparison be lost, since 1 Curie of activity in the US system equates to 3.7 E10 disintegrations per second (dps), it follows that this equates to the same number of dps in Becquerels [1Bq = 1dps]. Simple math takes one to 37 Becquerels per nanoCurie (3.7E1 dps). And those prefixes on the other side of zero are : milli(a thousandth E-3)), micro (a millionth E-6), nano (a billionth E-9), and pico (a trillionth E-12). Sorry to be elementary to the senior scientists.

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: RadSafe Digest, Vol 1444, Issue 1 (Rick Maltese)
   2. Re: RadSafe Digest, Vol 1444, Issue 1 (Brennan, Mike  (DOH))

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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 02:01:52 -0500
From: Rick Maltese <malteserick at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] RadSafe Digest, Vol 1444, Issue 1
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
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	<CAPpaKi5Xq-XA--tWV_1YFznzrSfrnnYT=iu1oL5Suet5=qsqJQ at mail.gmail.com>
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Can anyone help me put together a paragraph that explains Becquerels to the layman. I am creating a document to help explain radiation. Especially in relation to scary media about Fukushima. You can take a look at what I've got so far.

http://deregulatetheatom.com/reference/radiation/quick-radiation-reference-guide/

If there is also a graphic I would be very grateful. 

Rick Maltese
647-379-9655

webcompose.ca  webdesign services

leadsheetz.com  music services - transposing, composing, teaching etc

rickmaltesemusic.com  piano gig page

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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 09:43:13 -0800
From: "Brennan, Mike  (DOH)" <Mike.Brennan at DOH.WA.GOV>
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] RadSafe Digest, Vol 1444, Issue 1
To: "The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics)
	MailingList"	<radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
Message-ID:
	<37C41083D3480E4BBB478317773B845D0D5CE6B3 at dohmxtum31.doh.wa.lcl>
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How is this:

Radioactive material is radioactive because atoms change, or "decay", from one element into another.  The unit for measuring this decay in the International System of Units (SI, or what most Americans think of as
"metric") is the Becquerel (Bq).  One Becquerel is equal to one decay per second.  Because we are often interested in amounts of radioactivity much larger than that, we use the standard set of prefixes (mega-, giga-, etc.) when talking about activity.  

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when talking about activity, in Bq or other units, because they work differently than, say, miles per hour or pounds per square inch.  One is that the instruments used to measure activity usually can measure only certain types, and only certain energies of radiation.  Even for the type and energy it can measure it only measures the radiation that hits the detector (and not the radiation that goes in other directions), and only a portion of that.  It is important to know what material is being measured, and how it is being measured.  

Another thing to keep in mind is that when an atom decays and changes into a different element, it is no longer an atom of the original element.  It may not be radioactive anymore, or it may be radioactive in a different way.  If the half-life of the original radioactive material is long decay might not affect the number of Bq in the amount of time we care about, but if the half-life is short the number of Bq could change so fast that you need to keep calculating new numbers.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Maltese
Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2013 11:02 PM
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] RadSafe Digest, Vol 1444, Issue 1

Can anyone help me put together a paragraph that explains Becquerels to the layman. I am creating a document to help explain radiation.
Especially in relation to scary media about Fukushima. You can take a look at what I've got so far.

http://deregulatetheatom.com/reference/radiation/quick-radiation-referen
ce-guide/

If there is also a graphic I would be very grateful. 

Rick Maltese
647-379-9655

webcompose.ca  webdesign services

leadsheetz.com  music services - transposing, composing, teaching etc

rickmaltesemusic.com  piano gig page
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