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There is a serious msitake.

It says that the specific activity is 1.66 10^14 Bq/grt
when actually Po 210 is like 5 gr of Ra.
1 Ra generates just 1 Curie or 3.7*10^10

So we are talking about roughly 1.6 *10^11 and not 1.6 *10^14... Here there are three orders of magnitude.

Am I wrong?

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Sat Nov 25th, 2006 at 08:20:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
One mg of Po 210 is said to be liked 5 gr of Ra.. here the three orders of magnitude.

So if this ratio is correct I guess  there is some problem with the way the energy reaches to the tissue or I had a missmatch of three orders of magnitude.

I would bet that the ratio between Bq and actual energy in the tissue is not the given in the wiki article.

I will need some proof about this ratio.

Another option is to mix the amount of polonium in another substance so that alltogether is easy to handle.. but this would require some studd that you can not have at home..

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Sat Nov 25th, 2006 at 08:27:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Check the PDF source. It is indeed 1.66e^14 Bq/g and 5.14e-7 Sv/Bq (ingested) or 2.54e-6 Sv/Bq (inhaled). So maybe the comparison with Radium is wrong. Also, the alpha particles emitted by radium might be much less energetic than those of Polonium. Radium 226 has a half-life of 1602y, so its alpha emission must also be much less energetic than that of Po210. I would expect thee kinetic energy of the alpha particle to be inversely proportional to the half-life. You get a factor of 4000 that way. Am I wrong?

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Nov 25th, 2006 at 08:31:36 PM EST
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