Radiation Charts

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Radiation Chart « xkcd

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There’s a lot of discussion of radiation from the Fukushima plants, along with comparisons to Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Radiation levels are often described as “ times the normal level” or “% over the legal limit,” which can be pretty confusing.

Andrew Scott i go off like a banana.. 🙂20 March at 19:47 · Like

Brian Yap If you eat 100 banana’s a day, you double your daily dose of radiation, but then again, that is still well below the recommended safety limit. Of course it may cause other, unlisted, troubles.20 March at 19:56

Andrew Scott whats the half life of a banana? typiclly they start to go really mushy and black after 8-9 days..20 March at 19:58

Brian Yap I think that the math of half life does not apply to bananas going off, as they tend to all go off at about the same time. It would be the math of whole-life.21 March at 18:32

Irene Newcombe It is a very sad thing – however, as usual people push the panic button and exagerate their fears-causing mass fear – even in countries far away – some people in Malaysia are concerned they are going to be ‘radiated’!!!!22 March at 18:09 ·

Brian Yap It is very sad, I suppose we resort to humour to show our fears, others have different approaches. I saw a health announcement that there is a epidemic in Malaysia’s taking iodine antiseptic solution and the WHO said not to drink it. I think it shows how little trust people have in their governments and even less trust in the businesses involved.23 March at 05:31

Andrew South I agree with you Brian that people don’t trust what the government tells them, and with good reason. Most politicians today are professional liars. The other problem here is that there really is no “safe” level of ionising radiation. Every extra microsievert you receive adds to your cancer risk, whether it comes from background radiation, eating a banana, or from living next to a nuclear reactor. Given this you can hardly blame people for minimising their exposure.23 March at 23:55

 

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