Radiation Quantities & Units

Modified on June 2011

Physical Quantities (PQ)

Units to measure PQ

Length, Mass, Time

Practical Units: in C.G.S. - cm, g, seconds in M.K.S. metre, kg, seconds Sub Units - mm, micro meter etc. mg, micro gram etc. hours, minutes etc.

ICRU
International Commission on Radiation Units & Measurement (ICRU)

In 1980 ICRU
Suggested & re-defined the units of Radiation Physics in S.I. units Old units were in C.G.S.

Radiometric quantities (specify): 1. Rate of disintegration of atoms / sec 2. Radiation field at a point in free space/matter 3. Define the energy fluence (Exposure, Kerma) Dosimetric quantities (provide): A physical measure of actual/potential effects of ionizing radiation field at a point/region of interest (Absorbed Dose) Protection quantities: Developed to avoid the harmful effects of radiation (deterministic and stochastic)

PQ of Radiation Physics
      

Energy Radioactivity Air KERMA Exposure Absorbed Dose Equivalent Dose Effective Dose

Energy of Radiation
electron Volt kilo electron Volt Million electron Volt (eV) (keV) (MeV)

Electron Volt
1 electron volt
P.E. that an electron would possess when placed in electric field of 1volt eV = = -1.6 x 10-19 C x -1 V 1.6 x 10-19 Joules

keV = 1.6 x 10-16 Joules MeV = 1.6 x 10-13 Joules

Radioactivity
It is defined as the average number of spontaneous nuclear transformations taking place in unit time. Its Unit is Becquerel (Bq) (Bq) 1 Bq = 1 disintegration per second (1 dps) dps) Practical Units : kBq, MBq, GBq etc. kBq, MBq,

Henri Becquerel France, 1852-1908

Old unit was Curie (Ci) [Radium] 1 Ci = 3.7 x 1010 dps = 3.7 x 1010 Bq Conversion of old unit into new `Becquerel is a smaller quantity than `Curie 1 micro Ci x (3.7 x 1010) = 3.7 x 104 = 37 kBq 1 milli Ci x (3.7 x 1010) = 3.7 x 107 =37 MBq 1 Ci x (3.7 x 1010) = 3.7 x 1010 = 37 GBq
Maria Curie Russia, 1867-1934

ACTIVITY
Quantity (intensity) of radiation released from a radiation source Activity (intensity) of a radiation source reduces with time (half life) Though activity (intensity) reduces, but the energy of radiation emitted remains same All the atoms (6.03 x 1023 / A) do not decay at a time (the number of atoms that decay)

Types of Radiation
Two types of radiation:
Directly ionising : charges particles (alpha and beta ve & +ve) (Non-penetrating) Indirectly ionising : uncharged particles (x-rays, gamma and neutrons) (Penetrating)

Exposure
For external radiation Measure of Photon flux Amount of radiation-flux (energy) transferred radiationin unit mass of air It is the radiation field measured in the form of energy fluence at a point in air
Air as medium why?

Definition of Exposure
The quantity of x or gamma radiation that produces ions carrying 1 coulomb of charge (of either sign) in 1 kg of air. Unit of exposure : C/kg (New Unit) Old unit is `Roentgen (R)

The quantity of x or gamma radiation that produces ions carrying 1 esu of charge (of either sign) in 1 cc of air at STP.

1 C/Kg = 3881 R 1R = 2.58 x 10-4 C/Kg (air)

Exposure is restricted to photon and to medium air

Measurement of exposure is difficult if:

Energy is < a few keV and > a few MeV

KERMA (Indirectly ionising radiation)

Measure of field (exposure) of indirectly ionising radiation at a point in matter It is the sum of initial K.E. of all the charged particles librated by radiation in unit mass of material Kinetic Energy Released per Unit Mass S.I. Unit is J/Kg Special name is Gray (Gy) 1 Gy = 1 J/Kg When the interacting medium is Air, it is called Air Kerma

KERMA & Exposure

Exposure is for photons causing ion pairs (Radiological Safety) KERMA is for all the ions pairs and charged / uncharged particles (auger electrons, secondary particles, bremsstrahlung etc.) [In medical exposure]

Dose(Absorbed) (D) [In a Matter)

Effect produced depends:
Energy transferred to medium. Energy absorbed Quantity of absorbed dose (or simply Dose) at a point is the amount of energy absorbed per unit mass of the medium at that point.

The unit of Dose : J/Kg Another name of unit is : Gray (Gy) (Gy)

Old unit of dose is `rad

(Roentgen Absorbed Dose)

1 rad is the equal to 100 ergs energy absorbed in 1 g of material 1 rad = 100 ergs/g = 10-2 J/Kg = 10-2 Gy
(107 ergs = 1 J)

Conversion of old unit to new

`Gy is the bigger quantity than `Rad 1 Gy 1 mGy 1 micro Gy = 100 Rad = 100 m Rad = 100 micro Rad

Equivalent Dose (HT)

[Rad damage in Man]

Biol. Effects of Radiation depends on:

Amount of energy absorbed Spatial distribution of ion pairs Spatial dis. depends on LET (Energy loss per unit length) LET is different for diff radiation thus Biol. Damage caused by same dose of diff. radiation may be different 1 Gy of dose from alpha particles is found to produce more damage than 1 Gy of Gamma dose.

To account for the variation in effectiveness of type of radiation, the Dose (absorbed) is modified by a factor called radiation weighting factor (wR).

HT = 7R DT,R wR
Since wR is a dimensionless quantity, the unit of Equv. Dose is also J/Kg A special name is given to it `Sievert (Sv)

Radiation Weighting Factors (WR)

Types of Radiation Photons Electrons Neutrons Protons Alpha particles Energies All energies All energies 10 keV 20 Mev > 2 MeV All energies WR 1 1 <5 - 20 2 20

Old unit of equiv. Dose was `rem Equiv. Dose in rem = (Dose in rad) x (wR) 1 rem = 0.01 Sv

Conversion of old unit to new

`Sv is the bigger quantity than `Rem 1 Sv 1 mSv 1 micro Sv = 100 Rem = 100 m Rem = 100 micro Rem

Effective Dose (E)

[Partial (organ) body]

Exposure may occur to whole body to individual organ E = 7T HT x wT

or

wT - tissue weighting factor (Unit less) Therefore unit of effective dose is also Sv Old unit - `rem

Tissue weighting factors

Organ
Gonads Bone Marrow Lung Breast Thyroid Skin Bone Surface Salivary Glds

wT
0.08 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.04 0.01 0.01 0.01

Organ
Stomach Colon Liver Oesophagus Bladder Bone Surface Brain Skin

wT
0.12 0.12 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.01 0.01 0.01

New & old Units

Quantity New Unit Bq Old Unit Ci Relation Remark

Radioactivity

1 Bq = 2.7 x 10-11

Bq < Ci

Exposure

C/Kg

C/Kg = 3881 R

C/Kg > R

Air KARMA

Gy/Kg

1 Air KARMA = 114 R

A.K. > R

Dose

Gy

rad

1 Gy = 100 rads

Gy > rad

Equ. Dose

Sv

Rem

1 Sv = 100 rem

Sv > rem

The End

`Bq is only measure of quantity of radioactive material In 1 disintegration 1 atom is transformed 1 dps 1 atom is transformed in 1 sec It does not mean : only one radiation would be emitted in 1 dps e.g.
60Co

= total number of radiations emitted per second are 3 (1 F & 2 K)

Specific Activity
Bq is used as a unit of quantity. But it does not imply any thing about mass or volume of radioactive material in which the specific transformations occur. The concentration of radioactivity or the relationship between the mass of radioactive material and the activity is known as SPECIFIC ACTIVITY

S.A

=P.N = [0.963/T1/2] . [Avogadro's number/Atomic weight]

S.A. of Radium 226 T1/2 = 1622 x 365 x 24 x 60 x 60 (seconds) Avogadro Number = 6.03 x 1023 At. Wt. of 226Ra = 226 S.A. = 3.7 x 1010 Bq Carrier free: Free from other isotope of same material (e.g. 60Co & 59Co) In radioactivity 1 g of 35S is equivalent to 1/6g of 32P