How long does it take to receive a dose of 1000 rems from a source containing 100 Ci of Ir-192?

To determine how long it would take to receive a dose of 1000 rems from a source containing 100 Ci of Iridium-192, it’s essential to understand the relationship between the activity of the source, the dose rate, and the dose received over time.

Iridium-192 is a radioisotope that emits both beta and gamma radiation, and its decay can be quantified in terms of its activity measured in curies (Ci). One Curie (1 Ci) is defined as the activity of 3.7 x 10^10 disintegrations per second.

When working with radiation exposure and dose rate, it’s crucial to know the specific dose rate based on the source's activity. In practice, the dose rate for Ir-192 is approximately 4.3 rems per hour per Ci at a distance of 1 meter. Given this information, the dose rate for a 100 Ci source can be calculated as follows:

• 100 Ci * 4.3 rem/hour = 430 rem/hour.

To convert the dose rate from hours to seconds (since we want to find the time in seconds), we recognize that there are 3600 seconds in an hour:

• 430 rem/hour ÷