Thought this an interesting piece of trivia ...
Since a typical banana contains about half a gram of potassium, it will
have an activity of roughly 15 Bq Although the amount in a single banana
is small in environmental and medical terms, the radioactivity from a
truckload of bananas is capable of causing a false alarm when passed
through a Radiation Portal Monitor used to detect possible smuggling of
nuclear material at U.S. ports
Originally posted by wolfgang59 Thought this an interesting piece of trivia ...
Since a typical banana contains about half a gram of potassium, it will
have an activity of roughly 15 Bq Although the amount in a single banana
is small in environmental and medical terms, the radioactivity from a
truckload of bananas is capable of causing a false alarm when passed
through a Rad ...[text shortened]... g of
nuclear material at U.S. ports
Do you think the Monsanto corporation should genetically modify bananas to have a high lead content in the peels for our protection? Is there any risk in a truck load of bananas reaching critical mass and blowing up causing a nation to think it was being attacked and launching nuclear missiles in retaliation causing the target to launch its missiles in retaliation to the point of causing a nuclear winter making Al Gore less rich?
Originally posted by joe beyser Do you think the Monsanto corporation should genetically modify bananas to have a high lead content in the peels for our protection? Is there any risk in a truck load of bananas reaching critical mass and blowing up causing a nation to think it was being attacked and launching nuclear missiles in retaliation causing the target to launch its missiles in retaliation to the point of causing a nuclear winter making Al Gore less rich?
Originally posted by joe beyser Do you think the Monsanto corporation should genetically modify bananas to have a high lead content in the peels for our protection?
Not only would that not protect the consumer, but it would cause lead poisoning too.
Originally posted by wolfgang59 No and no. What is your opinion?
Well if it was Ukranium 235 instead of potassium Al Gore would probably loose some money on it some day. I like the lead peels Idea but how about some other non poisonous metal?
Originally posted by joe beyser Well if it was Ukranium 235 instead of potassium Al Gore would probably loose some money on it some day. I like the lead peels Idea but how about some other non poisonous metal?
On the upside, the lead peels would allow grocers to charge a lot more per banana assuming a constant price per kg.
But then again, they might be worth more to the heavy metals industry.
Originally posted by wolfgang59 Thought this an interesting piece of trivia ...
Since a typical banana contains about half a gram of potassium, it will
have an activity of roughly 15 Bq Although the amount in a single banana
is small in environmental and medical terms, the radioactivity from a
truckload of bananas is capable of causing a false alarm when passed
through a Rad ...[text shortened]... g of
nuclear material at U.S. ports
I suspect they can fine tune the detection instruments to tell the difference, the radiation from bananas may have a different frequency spectrum, or energy spectrum, something like that.
Originally posted by sonhouse I suspect they can fine tune the detection instruments to tell the difference, the radiation from bananas may have a different frequency spectrum, or energy spectrum, something like that.
The standard dosimeter is measuring the sum only. You need quite expensive devices to do a good analysis.
You might be astonished how much radioactive decay is going on in your body (about 50 Bq/kg). K40 accounting for most of it.
Originally posted by Ponderable You might be astonished how much radioactive decay is going on in your body (about 50 Bq/kg). K40 accounting for most of it.
I'm astonished at the decay of my body. Period. 😉
Radioactive bananas
08 May '13 02:34
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