Radiation Protection Glossary

A radiation protection glossary for Radiation Protection Supervisors (RPS) and anyone interesting in radiation safety terminology. The glossary is a mixture of health physics terms, and phrases related to radiation legislation, transport, practical safety and similar.

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Atomic Mass

Published: Oct 12, 2018

The atomic mass represents the total number of Protons & Neutrons in an atom. For example, in aCarbon 14 atom there are 6 Protons and 8 neutrons packed into the nucleus. Therefore the atomic mass is 14 (and hence we write C-14).

Physics is really nothing more than a search for ultimate simplicity, but so far all we have is a kind of elegant messiness

– Bill Bryson