What does disintegrations per second measure?

Disintegrations per second measures the activity of a radioactive sample as the number of nuclear decays occurring each second and is the SI activity unit equivalent to one becquerel.

A kilocurie (kCi) equals 1,000 curies, with each curie defined as 3.7 × 10^10 nuclear decays per second, making 1 kCi equal to 3.7 × 10^13 becquerels.

When should I use kilocurie instead of disintegrations/second?

Kilocurie is used to express very large radioactive source activities common in industrial, regulatory, and safety applications, whereas disintegrations/second suit smaller scale measurements.

How to Convert from Disintegrations/second to Kilocurie [kCi]

Easily convert radiation activity values from disintegrations per second to kilocurie (kCi) using this online unit converter designed for nuclear science and industrial applications.

Disintegrations/second

Kilocurie [kCi]

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Disintegrations/second to Kilocurie [kCi] Conversion Table

Disintegrations/second	Kilocurie [kCi]

Custom Unit Conversion Table Generator – Instant Printable Conversion Tables

Start Value

Enter the starting number (positive decimal or integer ≥ 0). Example: 0.1, 1, 5.

End Value

Enter the ending number (positive decimal or integer > Start Value). Example: 10, 50, 100.

Interval

Enter the step size (positive decimal > 0 and < End Value – Start Value). Example: 1.0, 2.5.

Disintegrations/second to Kilocurie [kCi] Conversion Table
Disintegrations/second	Kilocurie [kCi]

Explore More Radiation Activity Units Converter

What Is This Tool?

This converter helps transform radiation activity measurements from the SI unit disintegrations per second (equal to becquerel) into kilocurie (kCi), a unit for expressing very large radioactive source activities used in industrial and regulatory fields.

How to Use This Tool?

Enter the value of activity in disintegrations per second
Select or confirm the input unit as disintegrations/second
Choose kilocurie [kCi] as the target output unit
Click the convert button to see the result in kilocurie
Use the converted value for industrial, safety, or regulatory purposes

Key Features

Converts radiation activity from disintegrations/second to kilocurie (kCi)
Provides quick and accurate conversions for high-activity sources
Suitable for engineering, safety, and regulatory applications
Browser-based and easy to use without installation
Includes example conversions for better understanding

Examples

1,000,000 disintegrations/second equals 2.7027e-8 kilocurie [kCi]
3.7 × 10^10 disintegrations/second converts to 1 kilocurie [kCi]

Common Use Cases

Specifying the activity of high-activity sealed gamma sources in industrial irradiators
Shielding design and emergency response planning for facilities with large radioactive sources
Regulatory reporting and inventory management of high-activity radiological sources
Quantifying administered radiopharmaceutical activity in nuclear medicine
Calibrating instruments and reporting environmental radioactivity levels

Tips & Best Practices

Use scientific notation to handle very small converted kilocurie numbers
Confirm the unit definitions before conversion to ensure accuracy
Apply this conversion mainly for high-activity source measurements
Avoid using this for low-level activities common in medical diagnostics or environmental monitoring
Use the tool as part of regulatory compliance and safety analysis workflows

Limitations

Kilocurie values represent extremely large activities, so conversions from disintegrations/second often yield very small numbers
This tool is not suited for low-activity samples due to impracticality of the unit scale
Careful handling of significant figures and scientific notation is necessary to interpret results correctly

Frequently Asked Questions

What does disintegrations per second measure?: Disintegrations per second measures the activity of a radioactive sample as the number of nuclear decays occurring each second and is the SI activity unit equivalent to one becquerel.
What is a kilocurie?: A kilocurie (kCi) equals 1,000 curies, with each curie defined as 3.7 × 10^10 nuclear decays per second, making 1 kCi equal to 3.7 × 10^13 becquerels.
When should I use kilocurie instead of disintegrations/second?: Kilocurie is used to express very large radioactive source activities common in industrial, regulatory, and safety applications, whereas disintegrations/second suit smaller scale measurements.

Key Terminology

Disintegrations per second: The SI radiation activity unit representing the number of nuclear decays per second in a radioactive sample, equal to one becquerel.
Kilocurie (kCi): A unit expressing very large radioactive activity, defined as 1,000 curies or 3.7 × 10^13 becquerels.
Curie (Ci): A unit of radioactive activity corresponding to 3.7 × 10^10 nuclear decays per second.

Quick Knowledge Check

What unit is equivalent to disintegrations per second?

Curie

Becquerel

Kilocurie

How many curies are in one kilocurie?

1,000

100

For what purpose is the kilocurie mainly used?

Low activity samples

High-activity industrial sources

Environmental monitoring

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