Radiation Dose Calculator

The radiation dose calculator allows you to find out the amount of ionizing radiation that accompanies you in your everyday life. ☢️

Our tool will guide you through the meanders of mrem radiation from medical, natural, and everyday life sources. We'll also talk about radioactive decay, different doses of radiation, and their possible harm to human health and life.

Read on to find out:

• What is radiation dose measured in?
• How much radiation does the average human receive each year?

Ionizing radiation consists of alpha, beta, and gamma rays. Ionizing radiation bears the power to tear apart electrons from atoms and particles. The radioactive decay of different atomic nuclei produces such radiation.

Radioactive atoms are present in the ground, the food we eat, and the air we breathe – they also bombard us constantly from cosmic space. Humans learned to produce artificial radioactive substances for medical and war purposes.

In medicine, physicians use radiation to diagnose and treat different diseases and states.

• X-rays and computer tomography (CT) allow us to look inside the human body – they're used every day in hospitals worldwide.

• Radioactive elements are also needed in cancer treatment – the radiation is served precisely to the center of the neoplasm, killing its cells. Radiotherapy can be applied externally via the beam machine or internally by placing a capsule into the location of a tumor. If we want to compute the total effect of radiotherapy treatment, we use the biological equivalent dose (see BED calculator).

• Mammograms save thousands of women every year, detecting early forms of breast cancer.

• Radioisotope of iodine eliminates possible leftovers of thyroid cancer cells – it is also efficient in treating Graves' disease.

Large amounts of radiation can be lethal to humans – high-energy rays destroy DNA, leading to multiple organ failure and subsequent death due to radiation poisoning.

To calculate the radiation dose, you will have to add all the possible sources of radiation you might have had contact with.

1. Start with the natural sources. Internal, cosmic, and terrestrial radiation and sea level account for ~ 287 mrem/year.

2. Continue with everyday life. Use the table below.

3. Move on to medical sources.

4. Everything added and ready? Enjoy your results. 🎉

What are other rare radiation sources not included in our radiation dose risk calculator?

• ❤️ Plutonium-powered pacemaker – a pacemaker is a device that artificially maintains the rhythm of the heart. A plutonium-powered mechanism could easily outlive its owner while delivering reasonably low doses of radiation (100 mrem/year). Such devices were ditched because of dangers connected to handling plutonium as well as the discovery of lithium batteries.

• 📺 Old TVs with Cathode-Ray Tube used to emit some amounts of ionizing radiation; the TVs we use nowadays might be the source of non-ionizing radiation only.

• ⌚ Luminous wristwatches (LCD) – especially popular during the '90s, with screens that glow in the dark.

• 🚀 Weapons test fallout estimated 1 mrem/year in some regions. 1963 was the peak year of radioactive fallout; its level has been decreasing since then.

The average annual level of radiation for the US citizen is equal to 361 mrem/year.

🚬 If you smoke tobacco, you should add an additional 280 mrem/year.

We can measure radiation in a variety of different units. Let's explain some of them:

• mrem (milirem); and
• mSv (millisievert) – both of these units describe the health risk and biological effects of radiation.

100 mrem = 1 mSiv

• Gy (grey); and
• rad – both measure the physical quantity of absorbed radiation.

1 rad = 0.01 Gy

Adults working with radioactive materials should limit their exposure to 50 mSv per year.

50 mSv is equal to 5000 mrem – the amount of radiation equivalent to that of 5 abdomen/pelvis CT scans.