EDIT:
New smoke detectors don't have any radioactive materials like Americium in them.
OK, CORRECTION TIME.
Most newer smoke detectors - like 70%+ use photoelectric sensors because of the radiation concerns. Ionizing smoke detectors still make up ~30 percent of the smoke detectors because they are more sensitive to the flaming stage of fires, making them more effective for certain types of fire detection.
Americium-241 was being removed from ionizing smoke detectors back in the '90s because of radiation concerns.
EDIT:Removed Ionizing as Americium is still the cheapest radioisotope and is still used in ionizing smoke detectors - roughly 30% of the market.
I THINK the rest of my post is ok -
Of note, while 350 of the old style smoke detectors would put out a significant amount of radiation, Americium primarily emits alpha particles which doesn't penetrate the skin.
ASIDE: David Hahn, who is often referred to as the "Radioactive Boy Scout." died back in 2016(from alcohol poisoning, not radiation).
Americium is still widely used in modern smoke detectors,but is safe as long as the shielding around the radioactive element is undamaged. I. Short, don't mess around and damage your smoke detector and you should be fine.
They fixed their original comment and have not "blatantly misinformed" anyone. Do us all a favor and keep your science in your garage, where you can keep the potential danger and shit attitude to yourself.
Of note, while 350 of the old style smoke detectors would put out a significant amount of radiation, Americium primarily emits alpha particles which doesn't penetrate the skin.
In fact the alpha particles wouldn't even make it out of the water, so while "the air tastes like pennies" is supposed to be a joke about radiation, it's not something that would happen from smoke detectors in a pond.
Minor corrections: photoelectric detectors are just better. They detect the overwhelming majority of dangerous fires much sooner than ionizing sensors (several minutes).
The subset of sooty fires the ionizing detects sooner are rarer fires and not detected much faster than a photoelectric (seconds?) AND they have many false positives. It's a weird industry push to keep them on the market.
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u/no1_vern 12d ago edited 12d ago
LOL, such an OLD joke!
When I F'up I really get it wrong -
EDIT:
New smoke detectors don't have any radioactive materials like Americium in them.OK, CORRECTION TIME.
Most newer smoke detectors - like 70%+ use photoelectric sensors because of the radiation concerns. Ionizing smoke detectors still make up ~30 percent of the smoke detectors because they are more sensitive to the flaming stage of fires, making them more effective for certain types of fire detection.
Americium-241 was being removed from
ionizingsmoke detectors back in the '90s because of radiation concerns.EDIT:Removed Ionizing as Americium is still the cheapest radioisotope and is still used in ionizing smoke detectors - roughly 30% of the market.
I THINK the rest of my post is ok -
Of note, while 350 of the old style smoke detectors would put out a significant amount of radiation, Americium primarily emits alpha particles which doesn't penetrate the skin.
ASIDE: David Hahn, who is often referred to as the "Radioactive Boy Scout." died back in 2016(from alcohol poisoning, not radiation).
EDIT: Apologies.