Nuclear Chemistry: Solving Ionizing Intensity

[SamTsui86]

Homework Statement

If X radiation ionizes 26.2 X 1012 atoms per cemtimeter cubed, what is the ionizing intensity of the radiation measured in roentgens ?

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

Help, I have never seen atoms per centimeter cubed before, I know that 1 roentgens is 93.3e-3 J/g, but I don't know how to get atoms per centimeter cubed to that?

 

[chemisttree]

this from Wiki:

"It is the amount of radiation required to liberate positive and negative charges of one electrostatic unit of charge in 1 cm³ of air at standard temperature and pressure (STP). This corresponds to the generation of approximately 2.08×10^9 ion pairs."


You must determine how many ion pairs are generated per ionization event.
eg. 26.2 X 10^12 atoms generates how many ion pairs?

 

[Blueshift5]

it is important to have a solid understanding of the units and measurements used in your field of study. In this case, the units used are atoms per cubic centimeter and roentgens. To solve this problem, we need to understand the relationship between these units and how to convert between them.

First, we need to understand that atoms per cubic centimeter is a measure of concentration, specifically the concentration of ionized atoms. This means that for every cubic centimeter, there are 26.2 x 10^12 ionized atoms present. On the other hand, roentgens is a unit of radiation dose, specifically the amount of ionizing radiation that is deposited in a certain amount of material.

To convert between these units, we need to use the concept of specific ionization. This is a measure of how many ion pairs are produced per unit length of radiation travel. It is typically denoted by the symbol z and has a value of 1 for X-rays. In this case, we can use the following equation:

Ionizing intensity (in roentgens) = (specific ionization) x (concentration of ionized atoms)

Since z = 1 for X-rays, we can simply use the given concentration of 26.2 x 10^12 atoms per cubic centimeter to calculate the ionizing intensity in roentgens:

Ionizing intensity = (1) x (26.2 x 10^12 atoms/cm^3) = 26.2 x 10^12 roentgens

Therefore, the ionizing intensity of the radiation is 26.2 x 10^12 roentgens. It is important to note that this value may vary depending on the type of radiation and the material being irradiated. It is always important to consider the specific conditions and units when working with nuclear chemistry problems.