Description:

Explores principles of physics as applied to radiation therapy. Topics include forces of nature, atomic structure, radioactive decay, and specific activity and beam intensity calculations. Prerequisite: Acceptance into program.

Outcomes:

After completing this class, students should be able to:

• Describe the fundamental forces of nature and their applications to radiation physics.
• Describe the components of an atom.
• Analyze the atom in terms of a nucleus, electrons and space and their application to the production of x-rays.
• Distinguish the relative masses of atomic particles.
• Describe the processes of radioactive decay.
• Write a decay equation for Alpha decay, Beta decay and Electron Capture.
• Use a scientific calculator to solve equations involving Natural Logarithms.
• Interpret graphs involving Natural Logarithms.
• Calculate the reduction in activity of a radioisotope over time.
• Analyze the effect of half-life on dose-fractionation and time.
• Calculate the reduction in the intensity of a photon beam as it passes through an absorber.
• Analyze the effect of the linear attenuation coefficient on shielding block design.