Re: Confusing conversions

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

These are from my book, The Nuclear Energy Option (1990) which took them 
from my earlier book, Before It's Too Late(1981). One or both of these 
books give the calculations.The 15,000 is "particles of radiation", ie 
gamma rays, not radioactive particles.Quadrillion is a million billion, 
15 zeros, there.The calculation is easy and straightforward, so any of 
you could easily do it for yourselves. 

Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu


On Wed, 7 Feb 1996, Jim F. Herrold wrote:

> 
> Speaking of conversions...
> 
> A quote I like to use in the introduction to my Radiation Safety Class is 
> from Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, borrowed from an article in a book I believe is 
> called <Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns> (my copy of this book 
> has been missing from my office for some time, so I cannot verify this 
> title).  She said:
> 
> For all those who do not like radioactivity, the Earth is no place to live.
> 
> She follows this up with an estimate that we are being constantly bombarded 
> by 15,000 radioactive particles per second from our natural background.  To 
> put things in perspective, however, I like to add another estimate, which I 
> have heard somewhere (could be the same book, but I can't verify that). This 
> says that  the chance of one of those radioactive particles causing cancer 
> is one in 50 quadrillion.
> 
> My questions to RADSAFE are:
> 
> 1.   Has anyone else heard these estimates, or something similar?
> 
> 2.   How much is a quadrillion, in this reference? Evidently, according to 
> Webster's Dictionary,  it depends on where  you live. In the United States 
> it is a one followed by 15 zeros. In the United Kingdom it is followed by 24 
> zeros (quite a difference). If it was Dr. Ray who said this, I would assume 
> the U.S. number, to be conservative.
> 
> Jim Herrold, RSO
> University of Wyoming
> herrold@uwyo.edu
>