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- Xref: sparky sci.physics:13972 sci.environment:10979 misc.consumers:15973
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- From: de5@ORNL.GOV (Dave Sill)
- Newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.environment,misc.consumers
- Subject: Re: Radioactivity and Superstition; was: Re: Are Your Light Bulbs Radioactive?
- Message-ID: <1992Sep2.172549.29172@ornl.gov>
- Date: 2 Sep 92 17:25:49 GMT
- References: <1992Aug26.192043.24001@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <1992Aug26.195524.25813@athena.cs.uga.edu> <l9ns6oINNmol@utkcs2.cs.utk.edu> <1992Aug29.000626.16080@u.washington.edu>
- Sender: usenet@ornl.gov (News poster)
- Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN
- Lines: 26
-
- In article <1992Aug29.000626.16080@u.washington.edu>, whit@milton.u.washington.edu (John Whitmore) writes:
- >In article <l9ns6oINNmol@utkcs2.cs.utk.edu> de5@ORNL.GOV (Dave Sill) writes:
- >
- >>Few of which are radioactive, since most folks don't have concentrated sources
- >>laying around their house...unless they have smoke detectors or compact
- >>flourescents. Which is *exactly* the point the originator of this thread was
- >>trying to make. Radioactivity *is* a different kind of threat than most
- >>parents are used to dealing with.
- >
- > This is not true; ALL organic foods are radioactive (carbon-14,
- >remember?), and potassium contains 0.01% of K-40... so an eight-year-old
- >child (just about hammer-wielding age) has a 'safe and adequate'
- >recommended dietary intake of circa 1 gram of potassium per day...
- >which comes to about two microcuries.
-
- Which of my statements is not true? Do you consider organic foods
- concentrated sources of radioactivity? I think they are only in the literal
- sense, i.e., they're more radioactive than air or water. But if they are as
- concentrated as the sources in smoke detectors and compact fluorescents, why
- don't the manufacturers just use a chunk of cucumber and remove the warning
- label?
-
- --
- Dave Sill (de5@ornl.gov) For every Bill Joy there is a Kirk McKusick.
- Martin Marietta Energy Systems For every Bill Gates there is a Richard
- Workstation Support Stallman. --Paul Graham
-