Re: SI-units for radiation and activity

["Scott D. Kniffin" <Scott.D.Kniffin.1@gsfc.nasa.gov>]

Good day all,

So I've hacked and slashed through today's battle on units, I see no one has
brought up a few things.  First, the practicality of the units in question:
A Curie has a meaning rooted in physical (albiet with a degree of
uncertainty) 
fact: the number of decays per second in a gram of Radium.  A Bequerel is a 
pain from the stand point that now I have to account for each and every decay
which gives rise to useless numbers that have no meaningful representation
and are not conceivable to the human mind.  Most people can handle a few
million
and some rare individuals can actually grasp what a billion is physically.
Now 
you put a few thousand Curies together (hey, a few thousand, ok I can grasp
that)
and you get Tera Bq.  Flash foreward, a 1 Million Ci food sterilization
plant is
a ???.  What comes after Tera?  What meaning does a unit that large have?

Now from a personal standpoint, I don't want to give up on one of my personal
science heroes.  I rank her in the top 10 for influential scientists that
helped
inspire me.  I won't give her up till my dying breath, damn it.  
Also, has anyone given any thought to how the anti's will use this?  The
units SOUND bigger, last week a few curies now this week a few billion
bequerelthingies?  Given how paranoid some of these people are, why give
them another weapon to use for fear?  How many times must we shoot
ourselves in the foot?  

Thus ends my rant for the day.  I feel much better now.  

Scott Kniffin

mailto:Scott.D.Kniffin.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
RSO, Unisys Corp. @ Lanham, MD
CHO, Radiation Effects Facility, GSFC, NASA, Greenbelt, MD

The opinions expressed here are my own.  They do not necessarily represent
the views of Unisys Corporation or NASA.  This information has not been
reviewed by my employer or supervisor.