According to the inverse square law, what happens to patient dose if the distance to the source is doubled?

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Multiple Choice

According to the inverse square law, what happens to patient dose if the distance to the source is doubled?

Explanation:
The key idea here is the inverse square law: radiation intensity falls off with the square of the distance from the source, so I ∝ 1/d^2. If you double the distance (d → 2d), the intensity becomes I' = I/(2^2) = I/4. Since patient dose is tied to the amount of radiation reaching the patient, increasing the distance by a factor of two reduces the dose to one quarter of its original value. So the dose decreases by a factor of four. It wouldn’t double or stay the same, because the law uses the square of the distance, not a linear relationship.

The key idea here is the inverse square law: radiation intensity falls off with the square of the distance from the source, so I ∝ 1/d^2. If you double the distance (d → 2d), the intensity becomes I' = I/(2^2) = I/4. Since patient dose is tied to the amount of radiation reaching the patient, increasing the distance by a factor of two reduces the dose to one quarter of its original value. So the dose decreases by a factor of four. It wouldn’t double or stay the same, because the law uses the square of the distance, not a linear relationship.

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