In: Physics
1. The Russian ex-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in 2006 with 10 µg of polonium-210, an α emitter that kills through radiation poisoning as molecules important to metabolism are ionized by the passage of the α particles. He died 3 weeks later.
(a) (5 pts) What is the nuclear decay process and what is the Q of the reaction in MeV? Show the full calculation.
(b) (5 pts) Find the kinetic energies (in MeV) of the α particle and the accompanying nucleus.
2. Refer to the previous problem.
(a) (3 pts) What was the initial activity of this dose of Po-210 in decays/sec?
(b) (3 pts) What fraction of the Po-210 sample decayed in the first 3 weeks?
(c) (2 pts) How many α particles were emitted in the first 3 weeks?
(d) (2 pts) If the average ionization energy of molecules in body cells is 2 eV, approximately how many molecules were ionized in the first 3 weeks?