According to the inverse square law, if a source is moved twice as far away, how is the intensity affected?

The inverse square law states that the intensity of radiation from a point source is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source. This means that as you increase the distance from the source, the intensity decreases by the square of that distance.

If the distance from the source is doubled, the new distance is 2 times the original. According to the inverse square law, the intensity at this new distance would be calculated as follows: if the original intensity is represented as I and the distance is represented as d, the relationship can be represented as:

New Intensity = I / (2d)² = I / 4d²

Thus, the intensity becomes one-fourth of the original intensity when the distance is doubled. This relationship highlights how rapidly the intensity of radiation diminishes with distance, which is critical for understanding safety protocols and measuring radiation exposure.