Curie

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The curie (symbol Ci) is a unit of radioactivity, defined as

1 Ci = 3.7×10¹⁰ decays per second or becquerels.

This is roughly the activity of 1 gram of the radium isotope ²²⁶Ra, a substance studied by the pioneers of radiology, Marie and Pierre Curie. The curie has since been replaced by an SI derived unit, the becquerel (Bq), which equates to one decay per second. Therefore:

1 Ci = 3.7×10¹⁰ Bq

and

1 Bq = 2.70×10⁻¹¹ Ci

The unit is named after Pierre and Marie Curie.^[1][2]

A radiotherapy machine may have roughly 1000 Ci of a radioisotope such as Cesium-137 or Cobalt-60. This quantity of nuclear material can produce serious health effects with only a few minutes of exposure.

Also, a commonly-used measure of radioactivity is the microcurie:

1 μCi = 3.7×10⁴ disintegrations per second = 2.22×10⁶ disintegrations per minute

The typical human body contains roughly 0.1 μCi of naturally occurring Potassium-40.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Ionizing radiation
• United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation
• Radiation exposure
• Radiation poisoning
• Geiger counter
• Chernobyl disaster

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