Recent content by daveb

A good way to create a makeshift standard for K-40 is to get some of the salt substitute (which is KCl). Measure out a known mass, and with the isotopic abundance value you should be able to get the mass of K-40, which will give you the activity. It isn't exact because of impurities, but it's...

I beg to differ. At my company we have had to collaborate with both radiation oncologists in order to design a treatment planning system but also medical physicists and technicians in order to design a user friendly and streamlined workflow. In addition, we have 3 medical physicists on staff to...

I think the cat is thinking more of how it can kill such a big fish

In order to kill in 1 second you'd probably have to have a high enough dose rate to cause massive organ system damage to the heart, nervous system, etc. The threshold dose for nerve damage is about 50 Gy (depending on who you source), and around 40 Gy for damage to the heart, so I imagine 200 Gy...

The MLC (Multi Leaf Collimator) defines the target area shape, and the MLC attenuates the beam outside the target area to a fraction of the dose delivered to the target area.

To answer your question, yes, it is whole body vs focused radiation. Treatment plans involve using some kind of imaging (MRI,CT, etc.) to locate the tumor, then the physician prescribes a treatment area which includes the tumor site. Unfortunately, there is healthy tissue around the tumor, and...

Kind of appropriate for PF

You might find it easier to solve for the exponential part, THEN just gather the A0 together on one side (and yes, don't forget that the equation should be A0-1.6 = A0e-rt/ln2

This is a poorly worded question and you should tak your instructor (or the editor of the book) to task. The formula is (usually) the exposure rate, not the dose rate since not all gammas that pass through the body will be absorbed completely. In addition, the inverse square law applies only to...

Hands down it's The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot

Physics Cat pictures!

I would check out the employment section of the health physics society web page (assuming you have membership). Nukeworker sometimes has HP positions as well, but these are usually jobs with experience.

Saw this one the other day and it made me laugh.

Cute hint there!

I would say it would depend upon what you plan to focus upon for your PhD. Numerical analysis is good for developing and refining codes for numerous applications such as reactor simulation, neutron transport, etc., assuming you then go on to numerical methods for PDEs. Radiation physics looks...