In: Physics
BIOPHYSICS
1. Cobalt-60 (60Co), is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is an isotope that emits gamma rays essential to the medical community for cancer treatments, as well as sterilization of medical devices. Cobalt-60 is used as a radiation source for medical radiotherapy where it is used in cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells. Cobalt-60 is used as the radiation source in Gamma Knife equipment that enables non-surgical treatment of brain tumours.
Suppose you purchased a high activity cobalt source with 106 Curie.
a) Please find how many kg of 60Co are needed to achieve this activity?
b) After how many years will the activity of this source be reduced to 10% of its initial value?
Hints: Remember unit conversions (years to second, Ci to Bq). First find number of nuclides that creates this much activity. Use Avogadro’s number to find kg.