curien.
/ˈkjʊəriː/ 1. Originally: a quantity of radon (radon 222, radium emanation) in radioactive equilibrium with one gramme of radium. Later extended to denote an equivalent quantity of any of the decay products of radium (also curiegram). Later, a unit of radioactivity equal to 3·7 × 1010 disintegrations per second, frequently used loosely as a unit of quantity of any radioactive substance in which there is this degree of radioactivity. Cf. Becquerel n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > measurement of ionizing radiation > [noun] > quantity of radon or radioactive substance
curie1910
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > measurement of ionizing radiation > [noun] > units of radioactivity
megacurie1947
curie1954
pico-curie1960
Becquerel1975
Bq1975
1910 Rutherford in Nature 6 Oct. 430/2 It was suggested that the name Curie, in honour of the late Prof. Curie, should..be employed for a quantity of radium or of the emanation... The name Curie should be used as a new unit to express the quantity or mass of radium emanation in equilibrium with one gram of radium (element).
1913 E. Rutherford Radioactive Subst. 479 At the Radiology Congress in Brussels in 1910, it was decided to call this equilibrium quantity a ‘curie’, in honour of M. and Mme Curie... It is convenient to use the term millicurie as a smaller unit.
1929 Encycl. Brit. I. 875/2 Curiegram,..the quantity of radium emanation in equilibrium with one gram of radium. This unit is subdivided into the millicuriegram and the microcuriegram.
1931 M. Curie et al. Rep. Internat. Radium-Standards Committee in Rev. Mod. Physics III. 432 It is recommended that the use of the term curie be extended to include the equilibrium quantity of any decay product of radium.
1954 Brit. Jrnl. Radiol. 27 243/2 Amount of radioactive material shall be expressed in curies (c). The accepted definition of the curie is:—The curie is a unit of radioactivity defined as the quantity of any radioactive nuclide in which the number of disintegrations per second is 3·700 × 1010. With this definition the curie is independent of the disintegration rate of radium.
1955 Sci. Amer. July 50/3 The most powerful modern atomic bomb should release no more than 10 billion curies.
1963 H. G. Jerrard & D. B. McNeill Dict. Sci. Units 37 The curie is too large for normal laboratory work where the radioactivity is generally of the order of millicuries.
1968 Radiation Quantities & Units (Internat. Commission on Radiation Units & Measurements) 6 In accordance with the former definition of the curie as a unit of quantity of a radioactive nuclide, it was customary and correct to say: ‘Y curies of 32P were administered...’ It is still permissible to make such statements rather than use the longer form which is now correct: ‘A quantity of 32P was administered whose activity was Y curies.’
1970 Sci. Jrnl. Aug. 43/1 A single 1000 MWe reactor will therefore accumulate in its fuel many thousands of millions of curies of fission products.
2. curie point n. or curie temperature n., a temperature at which the type of magnetism exhibited by a substance changes; spec. that at which a ferromagnetic substance, on being heated, loses its ferromagnetism and becomes paramagnetic; also, an analogous temperature for a ferroelectric substance, at which it either loses its ferroelectricity or becomes ferroelectric.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > magnetism > types of magnetism > [noun] > ferromagnetism > body or substance > point of temperature change
curie point1911
curie temperature1960
1911 Physical Rev. 33 269 Weiss states that the ‘Curie point’ for cobalt is probably in the neighborhood of 1110° C.
1919 Chem. Abstr. 13 951 At about 1280° Fe undergoes a transformation with respect to its magnetic properties and this is referred to here as the Curie or A4 point.
1925 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 112 267 It will be observed that the line of magnetic transformation (the Curie points) in the γ-phase approaches the α to γ transformation curve.
1957 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 650/1 The temperature at which any ferromagnetic material loses its magnetism is known as the Curie point; it is 770 °C. for iron and 358 °C. for cobalt.
1960 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 623/2 The transition between ferrimagnetism and paramagnetism is also marked by a Curie temperature.
1967 Electronics 6 Mar. 24/1 (advt.) High skin temperatures demand an antenna with a high Curie point coupled with low loss characteristics at high frequencies.
1967 E. U. Condon & H. Odishaw Handbk. Physics (ed. 2) iv. vii. 119 The ferroelectric range of Rochelle salt is very narrow and that of the phosphates and arsenates is limited to low temperatures. Both crystal types..are piezoelectric above the Curie point.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
<
n.1910