A family member received what amount of radiation if they stood in a hallway with an exposure rate of 0.5 mrem per hour for 20 minutes?

To determine how much radiation a family member received while standing in a hallway with an exposure rate of 0.5 mrem per hour for 20 minutes, the calculations involve converting the exposure time from minutes to hours and then multiplying by the exposure rate.

First, since exposure rates are typically expressed per hour, it’s important to convert the 20 minutes into hours. There are 60 minutes in an hour, so 20 minutes is equivalent to 1/3 of an hour (20 divided by 60 equals approximately 0.333).

Next, we calculate the radiation exposure using the exposure rate of 0.5 mrem per hour. By multiplying the rate by the time in hours:

0.5 mrem/hour × 1/3 hour = 0.1667 mrem

When rounded to two decimal places, this amount is approximately 0.17 mrem.

This calculation illustrates how exposure rates and durations are combined to get an accurate measure of radiation received, leading to the conclusion that a family member standing in the hallway for 20 minutes would indeed receive around 0.17 mrem of radiation.