What’s Becquerel?

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The becquerel (Bq) is a unit of measurement that quantifies the rate of decay of unstable isotopes. One becquerel is defined as the decay of one atomic nucleus per second. This unit of measurement is used to measure the amount of radioactivity in a sample. A small amount of highly radioactive material will have a much higher Bq rating than a more inert sample of the same size. This figure will change over time, as radioactive elements gradually decay into stable elements, and the time of measurement should be noted when a Bq reading is taken or predicted mathematically.

Antoine Henrie Becquerel worked with Pierre and Marie Curie in the early days of radioactivity research. He is generally credited with being the original discoverer of radioactivity, which he stumbled upon while researching the phosphorescent properties of uranium. His name was later given to a unit of measurement, a traditional way of honoring great scientists.

Modern scientific analysis is based on a standardized system of measurements called the International System of Units (SI). This system consists of two levels: a base level of defined units, such as the counter and second, and an additional level of derived units based on those defined units. The becquerel is one of the derived units in this system.

Measuring radiation is a complicated process and different units measure different aspects of radioactivity. Some units, such as the rem or sievert, attempt to measure the potential impact of radiation on body tissue. Others measure the total energy in a sample or area. The becquerel measures radioactivity, or the raw number of atomic destructions per second.

Not all atoms decay equally, which makes direct conversion from the becquerel to a measure of absorbed or dangerous radiation somewhat difficult. Alpha particles, for example, are very dangerous in internal exposure, but they interact strongly with other matter and typically cannot penetrate the skin. Gamma rays and neutrons, however, travel easily through matter and can be very dangerous as external radiation.

Bq is a very small unit of measurement and is usually given a prefix to provide useful information. For example, a typical human experiences approximately 5,000 Bq of radiation, or 5,000 destructions per second, from naturally occurring radioactive isotopes within the body. Major radiation events are many orders of magnitude more energetic than this. The first unit devised to measure radioactivity, the curie, is 37 billion Bq, which gives an idea of ​​how small a Bq unit actually is.

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