08 May 13
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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose
08 May 13
Originally posted by wolfgang59Do 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?
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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose
08 May 13
Originally posted by joe beyserNo and no. What is your opinion?
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?
08 May 13
2 edits
Originally posted by joe beyserOn the upside, the lead peels would allow grocers to charge a lot more per banana assuming a constant price per kg.
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?
But then again, they might be worth more to the heavy metals industry.
How about gold peels? I would go for that.
08 May 13
Originally posted by wolfgang59I 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.
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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose
08 May 13
Originally posted by sonhouseThe standard dosimeter is measuring the sum only. You need quite expensive devices to do a good analysis.
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.
You might be astonished how much radioactive decay is going on in your body (about 50 Bq/kg). K40 accounting for most of it.