What is the radiation weight factor?

[gungo]

Homework Statement

A dose of 5 Gy of X-rays is required to destroy 63% of a particular bacterial population. It requires 1 Gy of beta particles of mean energy 1.0 MeV to accomplish the same result. What is the wR for the beta particles in this population of bacteria?

Homework Equations

H= (wR) x (Dr)

The Attempt at a Solution

I'm assuming the dose (Dr) is the 5 Gy...is the equivalent does the 1 Gy because it says it accomplishes the same result? The answer is supposed to be 5 but doing that wouldn't give me 5, and I wouldn't be using all the information. I really don't know what else to do I haven't dealt with questions like these in class :(

 

[mfb]

Beta particles (at this particular energy per beta particle) need only 1/5 the dose to deal the same damage. Their wR is 5: They deal damage 5 times as "efficient". That's it.

and I wouldn't be using all the information

Never assume that every number in a problem is relevant. That is a bad way to approach problems, especially as you won't have that sort of guidance for actual (non-homework) problems anyway. You have to determine which quantities are important and which are not based on the problem itself.