naturally occurring radioactivity found inside home smoke detectors," .................... http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article.../80807077/0/BREAKING ....................... "If we add all radiation leaked at every Japanese port, it would be still smaller than the amount of naturally occurring radioactivity found inside home smoke detectors,"
I'm not sure I'd call it naturally occuring...but most smoke detectors do use radioactivity.
quote:
showing that the cumulative radioactivity released was less than 9.3 micro curies
The traditional definition of a curie = radiation released by 1 gram of Radium. So 9.3 microcuries if I'm doing my decimal right is equivelant to 0.0000093 grams of radium. I'd guess the "Radium Girls" probably were exposed to more with each tounge lick when they were painting watch dials with radium paint.
I've forgotten most of the details, but a few years ago I read an article about a kid who came frighteningly close to building an atomic bomb in his back yard shed. One of the things he was doing was stripping out the Americium from old smoke detectors.
My new answering machine message: Hello and thank you for calling. We have been members of the NRA since we were old enough to take communion. As a Christian family, we have no interest in your robotic messages of hatred, bigotry and fear. We choose to vote for love, hope, and change, and we hope you will join us. Have a great day!.
My new answering machine message: Hello and thank you for calling. We have been members of the NRA since we were old enough to take communion. As a Christian family, we have no interest in your robotic messages of hatred, bigotry and fear. We choose to vote for love, hope, and change, and we hope you will join us. Have a great day!.
That folks should stop using smoke detectors? Which have saved THOUSANDS & THOUSANDS of lives? Because of some bum**** article about radiation?
You know, organic gardening is the title of this board. And that's enjoyable & informative. I find the "Chicken Little" threads not only not enjoyable, but more times than not, dangerous. Frankly, I think more than a few of you people are nuts.
There are people out there who, because of this article, will not only remove their smoke alarms, but not get any if they didn't have them to begin with.
This is SO SAD & SO DANGEROUS. Just because of one stupid article.
Posts: 718 | Location: Culpeper, VA - Zone 6/7 | Registered: June 18, 2008
Originally posted by BreezyGardener: ...smoke detectors? Which have saved THOUSANDS & THOUSANDS of lives?....
I agree with you Breezy. I thought the "radioactive boyscout" article was interesting, and I posted the link because I thought it made the point that there is radiation in small amounts everywhere.
But I think it would be complete foolishness for anyone to get rid of their smoke detector just because there is a small amount of radioactive material in them.
The relative danger of death from smoke inhalation, or worse, in a house fire is FAR greater than the risk posed by the Americium in a smoke detector.
There are dangers everywhere, and they include the danger of contacting soil microbes in our gardens, being hit by a bus, and getting plastered by a meteorite.
Life is dangerous and in seeking to avoid danger, we also avoid freedom and joy.
People who seek only safety live pathetic lives.
My new answering machine message: Hello and thank you for calling. We have been members of the NRA since we were old enough to take communion. As a Christian family, we have no interest in your robotic messages of hatred, bigotry and fear. We choose to vote for love, hope, and change, and we hope you will join us. Have a great day!.
I mean no offense as to what I'm about to say, but that is a bit stupid. Now, I didn't read the article, because I know there's 9.3 μCi of Americium-241 (Am-241). However, it's relatively harmless. A Curie is equivalent in activity to 3.7*10^10 (37000000000) decays per second, or 1 Becquerels. This is roughly equivalent to the activity of 1 gram of Radium-226. And for Am-241, when it decays, it releases an alpha particle, similar to a Helium atom minus its two electrons.
But you know what's even scarier? The fact that nearly all of the potassium in world, is one of three isotopes: K-39, K-40, K-41. K-39 and K-41 are stable, and make up about 99.9% of the total potassium in the world. They're radioactive, but have long half-lives, so don't worry.
Actually... The scariest thought is that we are surrounding by radiation. Various isotopes of Carbon are in our bones, but have a very long half life (around 5730 years for C-14)... Instead of me listing all of the elements in the body, here it is:
