Historically, the original unit for measuring the amount of radioactivity was the curie (symbol Ci), a non-SI unit of radioactivity defined in 1910. The SI unit for measuring the amount of radioactivity is the becquerel (symbol Bq). The becquerel is named in honor of Henri Becquerel. Rutherford (symbol Rd) is also a non-SI unit defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one million nuclei decay per second. This unit was introduced in 1946, but after the becquerel was introduced in 1975, the rutherford became obsolete.
Calculation of Radioactivity
A sample of material contains 1 microgram of iodine-131. Note that iodine-131 plays a major role as a radioactive isotope present in nuclear fission products and is a major contributor to the health hazards when released into the atmosphere during an accident. Iodine-131 has a half-life of 8.02 days.
Calculate:
- The number of iodine-131 atoms is initially present.
- The activity of the iodine-131 in curies.
- The number of iodine-131 atoms will remain in 50 days.
- The time it will take for the activity to reach 0.1 mCi.
Solution:
- The number of atoms of iodine-131 can be determined using isotopic mass as below.
NI-131 = mI-131 . NA / MI-131
NI-131 = (1 μg) x (6.02×1023 nuclei/mol) / (130.91 g/mol)
NI-131 = 4.6 x 1015 nuclei
- The activity of the iodine-131 in curies can be determined using its decay constant:
The iodine-131 has a half-life of 8.02 days (692928 sec), and therefore its decay constant is:
Using this value for the decay constant, we can determine the activity of the sample:
3) and 4) The number of iodine-131 atoms that will remain in 50 days (N50d) and the time it will take for the activity to reach 0.1 mCi can be calculated using the decay law:
As can be seen, after 50 days, the number of iodine-131 atoms and thus the activity will be about 75 times lower. After 82 days, the activity will be approximately 1200 times lower. Therefore, the time of ten half-lives (factor 210 = 1024) is widely used to define residual activity.