Curie (unit)

The curie (symbol Ci) is a non-SI unit of radioactivity originally defined in 1910. According to a notice in Nature at the time, it was to be named in honour of Pierre Curie,^[1] but was considered at least by some to be in honour of Marie Skłodowska-Curie as well,^[2] and is in later literature considered to be named for both.^[3]

Curie
A sample of radium, the element which was used in the original definition of the curie.
General information
Unit of	Activity
Symbol	Ci
Named after	Pierre Curie and Marie Curie
Conversions
1 Ci in ...	... is equal to ...
rutherfords	37000 Rd
SI derived unit	37 GBq
SI base unit	3.7×1010 s−1

Sample of cobalt-60 that emits 1 μCi (microcurie) of radioactivity; i.e. 37,000 decays per second.

It was originally defined as "the quantity or mass of radium emanation in equilibrium with one gram of radium (element)",^[1] but is currently defined as 1 Ci = 3.7×10¹⁰ decays per second^[4] after more accurate measurements of the activity of ²²⁶Ra (which has a specific activity of 3.66×10¹⁰ Bq/g^[5]).

In 1975 the General Conference on Weights and Measures gave the becquerel (Bq), defined as one nuclear decay per second, official status as the SI unit of activity.^[6] Therefore:

1 Ci = 3.7×10¹⁰ Bq = 37 GBq

and

1 Bq ≅ 2.703×10⁻¹¹ Ci ≅ 27 pCi

While its continued use is discouraged by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)^[7] and other bodies, the curie is still widely used throughout government, industry and medicine in the United States and in other countries.

At the 1910 meeting, which originally defined the curie, it was proposed to make it equivalent to 10 nanograms of radium (a practical amount). But Marie Curie, after initially accepting this, changed her mind and insisted on one gram of radium. According to Bertram Boltwood, Marie Curie thought that "the use of the name 'curie' for so infinitesimally small [a] quantity of anything was altogether inappropriate".^[2]

The power emitted in radioactive decay corresponding to one curie can be calculated by multiplying the decay energy by approximately 5.93 mW / MeV.

A radiotherapy machine may have roughly 1000 Ci of a radioisotope such as caesium-137 or cobalt-60. This quantity of radioactivity can produce serious health effects with only a few minutes of close-range, unshielded exposure.

Radioactive decay can lead to the emission of particulate radiation or electromagnetic radiation. Ingesting even small quantities of some particulate emitting radionuclides may be fatal. For example, the median lethal dose (LD-50) for ingested polonium-210 is 240 μCi; about 53.5 nanograms.

The typical human body contains roughly 0.1 μCi (14 mg) of naturally occurring potassium-40. A human body containing 16 kg (35 lb) of carbon (see Composition of the human body) would also have about 24 nanograms or 0.1 μCi of carbon-14. Together, these would result in a total of approximately 0.2 μCi or 7400 decays per second inside the person's body (mostly from beta decay but some from gamma decay).

As a measure of quantity

Units of activity (the curie and the becquerel) also refer to a quantity of radioactive atoms. Because the probability of decay is a fixed physical quantity, for a known number of atoms of a particular radionuclide, a predictable number will decay in a given time. The number of decays that will occur in one second in one gram of atoms of a particular radionuclide is known as the specific activity of that radionuclide.

The activity of a sample decreases with time because of decay.

The rules of radioactive decay may be used to convert activity to an actual number of atoms. They state that 1 Ci of radioactive atoms would follow the expression

N (atoms) × λ (s⁻¹) = 1 Ci = 3.7 × 10¹⁰ Bq,

and so

N = 3.7 × 10¹⁰ Bq / λ,

where λ is the decay constant in s⁻¹.

Here are some examples, ordered by half-life:

Nuclide	Isotopic mass (Da)[8]	Number of atoms in 1 gram	Half-life[9][a]	Specific activity (Ci/g)	Mass of 1 curie
209Bi	208.9803986	2.8816773×1021	2.01×1019 years	8.51×10−17	11.7 billion tonnes
190Pt	189.9599498	3.1702160×1021	4.83×1011 years	3.90×10−9	257 tonnes
147Sm	146.9149044	4.0990673×1021	1.066×1011 years	2.28×10−8	43.8 tonnes
232Th	232.0380536	2.5953246×1021	1.405×1010 years	1.10×10−7 (0.110 μCi/g)	9.12 tonnes
238U	238.0507876	2.5297714×1021	4.468×109 years	3.36×10−7 (0.336 μCi/g)	2.98 tonnes
40K	39.96399817	1.50689146×1022	1.248×109 years	7.18×10−6 (7.17 μCi/g)	140 kg
235U	235.0439281	2.5621342×1021	7.038×108 years	2.16×10−6 (2.16 μCi/g)	463 kg
129I	128.9049836	4.6717672×1021	1.614×107 years	1.72×10−4 (172 μCi/g)	5.82 kg
99Tc	98.90624968	6.0887363×1021	2.111×105 years	1.71×10−4	58.4 g
239Pu	239.0521616	2.5191744×1021	2.411×104 years	6.20×10−2	16.1 g
240Pu	240.0538117	2.5086628×1021	6561 years	0.227	4.41 g
14C	14.00324199	4.30053323×1022	5700 years	4.48	223 mg
226Ra	226.0254082	2.6643645×1021	1600 years	0.989	1.01 g
241Am	241.0568273	2.4982245×1021	432.6 years	3.43	292 mg
238Pu	238.0495582	2.5297845×1021	87.7 years	17.1	58.4 mg
137Cs	136.9070893	4.3987063×1021	30.04 years	86.9	11.5 mg
90Sr	89.9077279	6.6981347×1021	28.91 years	138	7.27 mg
241Pu	241.0568497	2.4982243×1021	14.329 years	104	9.66 mg
3H	3.016049281320	1.996698393×1023	12.32 years	9.62×103	104 μg
228Ra	228.0310686	2.6409299×1021	5.75 years	273	3.67 mg
60Co	59.93381554	1.00479849×1022	5.2714 years	1.13×103	884 μg
210Po	209.9828737	2.8679200×1021	138.376 days	4.49×103	223 μg
131I	130.9061264	4.6003506×1021	8.0249 days	1.24×105	8.05 μg
123I	122.9055898	4.8998103×1021	13.2232 hours	1.93×106	519 ng
212Pb	211.9918959	2.8407410×1021	10.627 hours	1.39×106	719 ng
223Fr	223.0197342	2.7002726×1021	22.00 minutes	3.83×107	26.1 ng
212Po	211.9888680	2.8407816×1021	294.4 nanoseconds	1.81×1017	5.53 ag

Radiation related quantities

The following table shows radiation quantities in SI and non-SI units:

Ionizing radiation related quantities

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Quantity	Unit	Symbol	Derivation	Year	SI equivalent
Activity (A)	becquerel	Bq	s−1	1974	SI unit
	curie	Ci	3.7×1010 s−1	1953	3.7×1010 Bq
	rutherford	Rd	106 s−1	1946	1000000 Bq
Exposure (X)	coulomb per kilogram	C/kg	C⋅kg−1 of air	1974	SI unit
	röntgen	R	esu / 0.001293 g of air	1928	2.58×10−4 C/kg
Absorbed dose (D)	gray	Gy	J⋅kg−1	1974	SI unit
	erg per gram	erg/g	erg⋅g−1	1950	1.0×10−4 Gy
	rad	rad	100 erg⋅g−1	1953	0.010 Gy
Equivalent dose (H)	sievert	Sv	J⋅kg−1 × WR	1977	SI unit
	röntgen equivalent man	rem	100 erg⋅g−1 × WR	1971	0.010 Sv
Effective dose (E)	sievert	Sv	J⋅kg−1 × WR × WT	1977	SI unit
	röntgen equivalent man	rem	100 erg⋅g−1 × WR × WT	1971	0.010 Sv

See also

• Geiger counter
• Ionizing radiation
• Radiation burn
• Radiation exposure
• Radiation poisoning
• United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation