The Radioactive Nuclei 60Co Is Widely Used in Medical Applications

Multiple Choice

The radioactive nuclei 60Co is widely used in medical applications. It undergoes beta decay, and the total energy of the decay process is 2.82 MeV per decay event. The half-life of this nucleus is 272 days. Suppose that a patient is given a dose of 6.9 µCi of 60Co. If all of this material decayed while in the patient's body, what would be the total energy deposited there? (1 Ci = 3.70 × 10¹⁰ decays/s)

A) 11 J
B) 8.6 GJ
C) 3.9 J
D) 24 J
E) 4.15 MJ