The curie (symbol Ci) is a non-
SI unit of
radioactivity originally defined in 1910. According to a notice in ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'' at the time, it was to be named in honour of
Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie ( , ; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. In 1903, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie, and Henri Becqu ...
,
but was considered at least by some to be in honour of
Marie Curie
Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...
as well,
and is in later literature considered to be named for both.
It was originally defined as "the quantity or mass of
radium emanation in equilibrium with one gram of
radium
Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather t ...
(element)",
but is currently defined as 1 Ci =
decays per
second
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...
after more accurate measurements of the activity of
226Ra (which has a specific activity of ).
In 1975 the
General Conference on Weights and Measures
The General Conference on Weights and Measures (GCWM; french: Conférence générale des poids et mesures, CGPM) is the supreme authority of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the intergovernmental organization established i ...
gave the
becquerel
The becquerel (; symbol: Bq) is the unit of radioactivity in the International System of Units (SI). One becquerel is defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. For applications relatin ...
(Bq), defined as one nuclear decay per second, official status as the
SI unit
The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. E ...
of activity.
Therefore:
: 1 Ci = = 37 GBq
and
: 1 Bq ≅ ≅ 27 pCi
While its continued use is discouraged by
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
(NIST)
and other bodies, the curie is still widely used throughout government, industry and medicine in the United States and in other countries.
At the 1910 meeting, which originally defined the curie, it was proposed to make it equivalent to 10
nanogram
To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following lists describe various mass levels between 10−59 kg and 1052 kg. The least massive thing listed here is a graviton, and the most massive thing is the observable universe ...
s of radium (a practical amount). But Marie Curie, after initially accepting this, changed her mind and insisted on one gram of radium. According to Bertram Boltwood, Marie Curie thought that "the use of the name 'curie' for so infinitesimally small
quantity of anything was altogether inappropriate".
The power emitted in radioactive decay corresponding to one curie can be calculated by multiplying the
decay energy
The decay energy is the energy change of a nucleus having undergone a radioactive decay. Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and radiation. This decay, or loss of energy ...
by approximately 5.93
mW/
MeV
In physics, an electronvolt (symbol eV, also written electron-volt and electron volt) is the measure of an amount of kinetic energy gained by a single electron accelerating from rest through an electric potential difference of one volt in vacu ...
.
A
radiotherapy
Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...
machine may have roughly 1000 Ci of a radioisotope such as
caesium-137
Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nucl ...
or
cobalt-60
Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisoto ...
. This quantity of radioactivity can produce serious health effects with only a few minutes of close-range, unshielded exposure.
Radioactive decay can lead to the emission of particulate radiation or electromagnetic radiation. Ingesting even small quantities of some particulate emitting radionuclides may be fatal. For example, the
median lethal dose
In toxicology, the median lethal dose, LD50 (abbreviation for "lethal dose, 50%"), LC50 (lethal concentration, 50%) or LCt50 is a toxic unit that measures the lethal dose of a toxin, radiation, or pathogen. The value of LD50 for a substance is the ...
(LD-50) for ingested
polonium
Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...
-210 is 240 μCi; about 53.5 nanograms. Although, millicurie quantities of electromagnetic emitting radionuclides are routinely used in Nuclear Medicine.
The typical human body contains roughly 0.1 μCi (14 mg) of naturally occurring
potassium-40
Potassium-40 (40K) is a radioactive isotope of potassium which has a long half-life of 1.25 billion years. It makes up about 0.012% (120 ppm) of the total amount of potassium found in nature.
Potassium-40 undergoes three types of radioactive de ...
. A human body containing 16 kg of carbon (see ''
Composition of the human body
Body composition may be analyzed in various ways. This can be done in terms of the chemical elements present, or by molecular type e.g., water, protein, fats (or lipids), hydroxylapatite (in bones), carbohydrates (such as glycogen and glucose) ...
'') would also have about 24 nanograms or 0.1 μCi of
carbon-14
Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...
. Together, these would result in a total of approximately 0.2 μCi or 7400 decays per second inside the person's body (mostly from beta decay but some from gamma decay).
As a measure of quantity
Units of activity (the curie and the becquerel) also refer to a quantity of radioactive atoms. Because the probability of decay is a fixed physical quantity, for a known number of atoms of a particular
radionuclide
A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transfer ...
, a predictable number will decay in a given time. The number of decays that will occur in one second in one gram of atoms of a particular radionuclide is known as the
specific activity
Specific activity is the activity per unit mass of a radionuclide and is a physical property of that radionuclide.
Activity is a quantity (for which the SI unit is the becquerel) related to radioactivity, and is defined as the number of radi ...
of that radionuclide.
The activity of a sample decreases with time because of decay.
The rules of
radioactive decay
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consid ...
may be used to convert activity to an actual number of atoms. They state that 1 Ci of radioactive atoms would follow the expression
: ''N'' (atoms) × ''λ'' (s
−1) = 1 Ci = 3.7 × 10
10 Bq,
and so
: ''N'' = 3.7 × 10
10 Bq / ''λ'',
where ''λ'' is the
decay constant
A quantity is subject to exponential decay if it decreases at a rate proportional to its current value. Symbolically, this process can be expressed by the following differential equation, where is the quantity and (lambda) is a positive rate ...
in s
−1.
We can also express activity in moles:
:
where ''N''
A is the
Avogadro constant
The Avogadro constant, commonly denoted or , is the proportionality factor that relates the number of constituent particles (usually molecules, atoms or ions) in a sample with the amount of substance in that sample. It is an SI defining con ...
, and ''t''
1/2 is the
half-life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...
. The number of moles may be converted to grams by multiplying by the
atomic mass
The atomic mass (''m''a or ''m'') is the mass of an atom. Although the SI unit of mass is the kilogram (symbol: kg), atomic mass is often expressed in the non-SI unit dalton (symbol: Da) – equivalently, unified atomic mass unit (u). 1&nbs ...
.
Here are some examples, ordered by half-life:
Radiation related quantities
The following table shows radiation quantities in SI and non-SI units:
See also
*
Geiger counter
A Geiger counter (also known as a Geiger–Müller counter) is an electronic instrument used for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation. It is widely used in applications such as radiation dosimetry, radiological protection, experimental ph ...
*
Ionizing radiation
Ionizing radiation (or ionising radiation), including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. Some particles can travel ...
*
Radiation exposure
Radiation is a moving form of energy, classified into ionizing and non-ionizing type. Ionizing radiation is further categorized into electromagnetic radiation (without matter) and particulate radiation (with matter). Electromagnetic radiation con ...
*
Radiation poisoning
*
Radiation burn
A radiation burn is a damage to the skin or other biological tissue and organs as an effect of radiation. The radiation types of greatest concern are thermal radiation, radio frequency energy, ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation.
The most ...
*
References
{{Scientists whose names are used as units
Non-SI metric units
Radioactivity
Units of radioactivity
Pierre Curie