Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Iodine-125 (125I) is used to treat, among other things, brain tumors and prostate cancer. It decays by gamma decay with a half-life of 54.90 days....

Half life is the amount of time after which only 50% of the original quantity remains. For example, the half life of Iodine-125 is 54.9 days. This means that after 54.9 days, half of the original implant value would have decayed. Similarly, after 2 half lives or 109.8 days (= 2 x 54.9 days), only 25% of the original content would be left. 


The initial decay rate or activity (A0) = 532 `mu`Ci, time period = 389 days.


Decay constant, `lambda`  = 0.693/T, where T = half life = 54.9 days


Using `A = A_0 e^(-lambdat)`


Solving for a time duration, t = 389 days, we get A = 3.92 `mu`Ci


For 16.5% of the initial value, A = 16.5% of A0 = 0.165 A0


Substituting this into the equation, we get


`A/A_0 = e^(-lambdat) = 0.165`


substituting the value of decay constant, we get, t = 142.74 days.


Assuming there are 30 days in a month, it will take about 4.76 months for the activity to be 16.5% of the initial value.


Hope this helps.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 is sometimes called the Revolution of 1800. Why could it be described in this way?

Thomas Jefferson’s election in 1800 can be called the “Revolution of 1800” because it was the first time in America’s short history that pow...