Unit of Radioactivity and its Advantages and Disadvantages

Introduction

Have you ever heard of the notion of producing energy and subatomic particles? Radioactivity is of these particle properties. Radioactivity is a naturally occurring disruptive process. It describes the particles released by nuclei as a result of nuclear instability. These beams are known as radioactive rays. Generally, these radiations consist of certain particles like alpha and beta particles in some time charge fewer gamma rays released. The first unit of radioactivity is the Curie unit, and the second is the Becquerel unit.

What is Radioactivity?

As we know, radioactivity is a nuclear phenomenon in which there is a decay of the unbalanced nucleus. This decaying of the more unbalanced nucleus has been termed radioactivity. The two powers, that is the more force of attraction of the nucleus and the force of repulsion, support keeping the nucleus together.

Radioactivity is the emission of particles from nuclei as a result of nuclear instability. The curie was the unit of measurement for radioactivity (Ci). Initially, it is equivalent to one gram of radium-226. It was recently defined as one curie = radioactive decay per second. However, for this article, let us look at the SI unit of radioactivity as well as some of its other units.

What is the SI Unit of Radioactivity?

Historically, the curie (sign Ci), a non-SI measure of radioactivity introduced in 1910, was the initial unit for measuring the quantity of radioactivity. The becquerel is the SI unit for measuring radioactivity (symbol Bq). The becquerel is named after Henri Becquerel. Rutherford (sign Rd) is another non-SI unit that defines the activity of a quantity of radioactive material as the rate at which one million nuclei decay per second. This unit was created in 1946, but it became obsolete once the becquerel was introduced in 1975.

The becquerel (Bq) is the SI unit of radioactivity, named after Henri Becquerel. The radioactivity unit is defined as the amount of radioactive material’s activity when one decay occurs per second. The dimension of radioactivity is the length of squared mass per time.

1 becquerel = 1 radioactive decay per second = Ci

Other Units of Radioactivity

Typically, there are three radioactivity units. The curie (Ci) is an older radioactivity unit that was named after Pierre and Marie Curie. It is defined as the amount of radioactive material which gives disintegrates every second (dps).

Millicurie (mc) and microcurie (mc) are other terms that are used sometimes. Rutherford (rd) is another unit that is defined as the amount of radioactive material that produces 106 disintegrations per second (dps).

1 curie = radioactive decay per second

1 becquerel = 1 radioactive decay per second = Ci

1 rutherford = 1.106 radionuclide decays per second

Laws of Radioactivity 

• The decay of the nucleus causes radioactivity.
• The decay rate of the nucleus is independent of temperature and pressure.
• The law of charge conservation governs radioactivity.
• The offspring nucleus has distinct physical and chemical characteristics from the mother nucleus.
• The energy emitted by radioactivity is always accompanied by alpha, beta, and gamma particles.
• The decay rate of radioactive substances is determined by the number of atoms present at the moment.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Radioactivity

The advantages of radioactivity are:

• Gamma rays are employed in radiotherapy because they destroy cancerous cells.
• Cobalt-60 is used to kill cancerous cells.
• Gamma rays are used to scan the inside of the body.
• Gamma rays destroy bacteria in food and extend their shelf life by preventing deterioration.
• Radioactive radiation may be used to determine the age of rocks by measuring the argon concentration of the rock.

The disadvantages of radioactivity are:

• A high dose of radioactive radiation in the body might kill the person.
• Radioactive isotopes are costly.

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