"Clothes dryers are very effective at making statically charged surfaces. (Dryer sheets help.) So when radon and its temporary decay products are blown through the dryer, electrically-polarized molecules tend to be attracted to the charged surfaces"
What that commenter misses is that nearly all hobbyist grade detectors (Geiger tubes) are not sensitive to alpha but they are highly sensitive to beta and a little sensitivity to gamma. However, any thin solid will block beta, so they would need the Geiger tube to be very near the radiation emitting material to pick up the beta. In other words, if they're just waving the detector around they're probably just catching the gamma.
The radon in the air decays into various progeny, and by the time it reaches the dryer that will be to some extent in equilibrium, so several isotopes, including gamma emitters, will be present in the mix. Therefore I'm not surprised the detector reads a tiny bit of that.
Why it dissipates is probably not a decay thing but rather the accumulated material gradually diffusing away from the filter or whatever after the dryer is turned off and no longer actively accumulating radon.
This could be tested by putting a detector right next to the filter to see how much beta it picks up. I've basically done that with a home air filter:
https://twitter.com/BetterGeiger/status/1605639346865901570?...
That's with the detector I make and sell which is primarily sensitive to gamma, which is why I could register a reading through the plastic container, even a couple days after preparing the test. When I used a pancake style detector sensitive to alpha and beta, directly against the exposed filter, the detector reacted much more strongly... But the Better Geiger S-1 gives an accurate dose reading, the Geiger tube or pancake probe will dramatically overestimate dose in that scenario, which can cause undue concern... In reality it's pretty harmless levels of radiation. :)
This was part of the reason why it took so long to discover the cause of Alexander Litvinenko's death by Polonium-210 poisoning. Doctors (and later detectives) had suspected some form of radiation poisoning, but the early tests used Geiger counters and came back negative. But Po-210 decays almost exclusively by emitting an alpha particle which is not detectable by Geiger counters. (And it also means it's not very dangerous outside the body but becomes extremely toxic if ingested.)
"An antistatic fan made by NRD, of Grand Island, N.Y., contains 31,500 microcuries of polonium 210 — or, in theory, more than 10 lethal doses."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/weekinreview/03broad.html
But for the vast majority of my life, I’ve always wanted a Geiger counter, and once they were cheap and readily available on Amazon, I was just about to pull the trigger. And then Fukushima happened a week later and sent prices into the stratosphere.
A few times recently I idly looked at the ones on Amazon but never got around to it because I couldn’t tell which were junky crap and which were somewhat more expensive junky crap.
But very cool to see a knowledgeable manufacturer explaining his product in a highly relevant comment thread. Finally, the radiation detector for me!
There’s a former 12 year old kid out there who still remembers the Geiger counter exhibit from taking a pre-9/11 NPP tour who’s going to be very excited for something coming in the mail in the next week or two.
from the original post: "If your Geiger counter is actually detecting radiation, it's almost certainly the half-hour lead and bismuth. " If you look at the table he provided lead and bismuth are beta decay. It is likely he is specifying that on the fact that most home geiger counters only detect beta and gamma not alpha.
https://twitter.com/BetterGeiger/status/1475480971050901511
Another metric some people like is CPM/[uSv/hr] when exposed to Cs-137 (662 keV). That number is about 415, whereas cheapo Geigers can be as low as 10, and decent consumer-grade Geiger counters are usually around 120. This number gives a decent idea about relative X-ray/gamma sensitivity of those devices.
I’m not familiar with Geiger counter design/specs but would the considerable static electricity send some electrons into the detector and cause a false positive beta hit?
Gamma goes through most things and has the highest range. Gamma consists of electro magnetic radiation.
Beta is somewhere in the middle. It consists of electrons.
All are of concern, but Alfa is mainly of concern if ingested or inhaled. This is because all the radiation will be absorbed by your body, while most gamma would just escape. Gamma is of more concern outside the body, due to its reach.
I may remember some details wrong. I last learned about this in school a decade ago.
Poured slabs are less permeable, not a low point, and tend to have better ventilation either intentionally or unintentionally.
In the south, Radon "can" be an issue, but it simply isn't an issue. In New England, it is often an issue.
Costs were around $2,000 CAD to install a sub-slab depressurization system (i.e. a fan that pulls air from below the house and vents it away from the house).
Radon values dropped from around 500 Bq/m3 to less than 20 Bq/m3.
> Radon-resistant new construction (RRNC) typically costs a builder between $250 and $750. RRNC could cost less than $250 if the builder already uses some of the same techniques for moisture control.
https://www.epa.gov/radon/radon-resistant-new-construction-h...
Newly built houses are required to be radon-proofed, AFAIK.
Has the debunking itself been debunked? It's hard to keep track.
[0] https://www.osel.cz/3436-radon-neskodi-a-mozna-i-prospiva.ht...
Here is a map! [https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-12/documents/ra...]
You can get the GMC-300E a bit cheaper, but with no temperature compensation sensor[1] it won't be quite as accurate.
[0] https://old.reddit.com/r/codyslab/comments/hk3jru/more_fun_w...
[1] https://www.gqelectronicsllc.com/support/GMC_Selection_Guide...
I wouldn't recommend it again, but if you received one as a gift, with a bit of tweaking, you'll be measuring random stuff in your house.
The cheaper single tube dosimeters will max out and saturate at radiation levels far below those that are immediately harmful to human health. (This was the source of the famous "3.6 roentgen per hour, not great, not terrible" meme-- he was looking at a meter that was reading off-scale high at 0.001 R/s)
If you're buying a dosimeter with the threat in nuclear war in mind, check the specs for maximum readings.
Quote from HBO's Chernobyl, the dramatisization of Anatoly Dyatlov: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/anatoly-dyatlov
A more balanced view of him: https://www.rbth.com/history/330525-anatoly-dyatlov-chernoby... and https://www.history.com/news/chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-7-pe...
Aside: all of us, even the most competent engineers, can deny what is happening or make bad calls during an emergency, especially where everything is unknown during the initial stages. It takes very good training to teach us to make better emergency decisions - e.g. firefighter's training, and some military. Beware of selection bias in repeated deadly situations.
1. https://ludlums.com/products/all-products/product/model-3
2. https://ludlums.com/products/all-products/product/model-44-9
3. https://ludlums.com/products/all-products/product/model-44-1...
Hilarious
So, if it attracts radon, does it raise the risk profile of the person? Should I ban sitting on static-electricity objects in radon-sensitive areas?
(Los Alamos doesn't have dangerous concentrations of radon; they just have very sensitive detectors.)
> ONE TIME I GOT RADON ON MY BUTT
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/121830/does-eart... There is no tidal bulge
why?
It contains high quantities of radium which decays into radon, this should end well.
> "Phosphogypsum contains appreciable quantities of uranium and its decay products, such as radium-226," according to the EPA. And because the fertilizer production process concentrates waste material, "phosphogypsum is more radioactive than the original phosphate rock," the agency notes.
> "The radium is of particular concern because it decays to form radon, a cancer-causing, radioactive gas," the EPA adds.
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/1174789570/florida-roads-radi...
Well, no more than any other heavier-than-air gas, like say, fog.
Now we have states trying to override federal regulations because superpac donations.
/s
> Polarized or polarizable objects are attracted to strong electric fields
Polarizable objects align in an E field, they aren't attracted to the E field. I don't doubt you could contrive a field to move a polarized object, but the wording seems to be confusing an ionized object with a polarized object.
I knew people who took this to an extreme by putting a high-voltage static charge on a needle, then placing the charged needle in a closed bell jar with a pile of thorium-doped lantern mantles. The tip of the needle would pick up enough radon daughters that it made a great rechargeable point source for cloud chamber demonstrations.
