Describe why your annual radiation doses might differ | Homework Helpers

Note: there are no “cookbook” answers to the following questions. You have to think about things.

1. You are a brown trout living in a high alpine lake in Colorado. You have a cousin (a rainbow) living in a farm pond next to the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Describe why your annual radiation doses might differ.

1. Describe why they might be the same.

1. A human baby and an adult both drink milk containing ¹³¹I; both drink 1 L d^-1. Which would you expect to have the higher concentration of ¹³¹I in their thyroid? Why?

1. ³H is detectable in the environment. Where did it come from?

1. An elephant and an amoeba both went for a swim in a pond contaminated with¹³⁷ Neither of them drank the water. Which would you expect to have the highest concentration of the contaminant? Why?

1. A mule deer is consuming vegetation from a contaminated pasture. The vegetation has an average activity concentration of 1 Bq g^-1 of ¹³⁷ Assuming the deer eats 1.5 kg d^-1 and that the effective half-time for ¹³⁷Cs in the deer is 500 days.   What equation would you use to calculate the activity in the “deer” compartment with time?  Generate a plot (using excel or by hand) and submit it with your answer.