Curies As A Measure of Quantity
Curies are occasionally used to express a quantity of radioactive material rather than a decay rate, such as when one refers to 1 Ci of caesium-137. This may be interpreted as the number of atoms that would produce 1 Ci of radiation. The rules of radioactive decay may be used convert this to an actual number of atoms. They state that 1 Ci of radioactive atoms would follow the expression:
- N (atoms) * λ (s-1) = 1 Ci = 3.7 × 1010 (Bq)
and so,
- N = 3.7 × 1010 / λ
where λ is the decay constant in (s-1).
The use of Curies to measure quantity is unique in that 1 Ci of a nuclide will be fewer Curies at any later time.
Read more about this topic: Curie
Famous quotes containing the words measure and/or quantity:
“The soul is no longer honored as it once was, but it still keeps appetite from being the measure of all things.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Among the virtues and vices that make up the British character, we have one vice, at least, that Americans ought to view with sympathy. For they appear to be the only people who share it with us. I mean our worship of the antique. I do not refer to beauty or even historical association. I refer to age, to a quantity of years.”
—William Golding (b. 1911)