Re: More than you want about alpha (and static/dust issues)

[P3D John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Wed, 8 May 1996 21:56:39 -0500
>From: P3D  <gosfield@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: More than you want about alpha

>If eaten or breathed in, energetic alpha particles can represent a 
>hazard, due to their densely ionizing nature.  

Clarification for those who might misinterpret that: if alpha *emitters*
are taken internally they could cause problems (i.e. cancer). I believe
plutonium (238/239/both?) also emits alpha particles, which is one reason
you shouldn't snort plutonium oxide. (And what the anti-RTG folks complain
about. Remember that if Stone Mountain, Georgia were pulverized in a sudden
disaster, and an equal amount of the dust inhaled by every person in the
world....;-) Other items one shouldn't ingest: smoke detectors (americium,
I think), and the mantles from gas lanterns (thorium oxide - what does
thorium emit?).

>---the above is paraphrazed and quoted from Physics in Nuclear Medicine, 
>Second Edition, by Sorenson and Phelps, W.B.Saunders Company pub.1987

>So as someone else pointed out, don't sniff your Staticmaster, and don't 
>chew it. You might want to store it in a paper bag or paper box or plastic 
>bag.  

>ted (a nuclear kinda guy)

A widely available product that helps reduce static in many cases: human
breath. (By slowly breathing out warm moist air, you help to create a
discharge path for a built-up static charge.) This doesn't work as well in
some extreme cases, i.e. some CRT screens, and some plastics.

I also often use condensed moisture from breath as lens cleaning fluid.

And for those who still don't believe in the dominance of biological factors
in the environment we create around us, the prime contributor to typical
household dust is... human skin cells! [Source: Beakman]

John R


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