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Interesting Facts About Radioactivity

When an atom becomes unstable due to the presence of too many neutrons or protons, it attempts to return to a stable state by discharging particles and energy. This energy can take many forms, all of which fall under the general category of radioactivity. In large doses, radioactivity can be extremely dangerous, but smaller exposures to low levels of radiation occur naturally and are essentially harmless.

  1. Dosage

    • There are a number of different methods of measuring radioactivity, but the one most commonly used to measure radiation exposure over time is the rem. One rem is the approximate amount of radiation exposure from a full-body CT scan. One thousandth of a rem, or one millirem, is close to the dosage you receive from a single dental X-ray. On average, you receive about 360 millirems in the course of a year from background radiation and other sources. According to the Radiation Information Network, each additional full rem exposure over the course of a year increases your chance of cancer or radiation-related illness by roughly 0.04 percent.

    Banana Equivalent Dose

    • Since rems and millirems can be somewhat unwieldy to those not familiar with radioactivity and related fields, some physicists have taken to describing extremely small doses of radiation in terms of the number of banana equivalents the dose represents. Bananas contain small amounts of the radioactive mineral potassium, and eating a banana delivers somewhere around 10 microrems, or 10 millionths of a rem, of radiation. You would make yourself sick long before you could eat enough bananas to actually absorb a dangerous dose, but container loads of bananas contain enough radioactivity to set off low-level radiation alarms at ports and at border crossings.

    Building Materials

    • Certain building materials can increase your yearly radiation exposure. A granite countertop may be an integral part of a great kitchen, but the material also contains trace amounts of uranium, making it slightly radioactive. The intensity of this radiation depends on the makeup of the rock, but on average, using a granite countertop for around two hours a day will increase your yearly dose by 10 to 13 millirem. Granite buildings, like the US Capitol and Grand Central Station in New York, cause an additional exposure to employees of between 80 and 100 millirem every year.

    The Radioactivity Craze

    • In the early 1900s, before radiation was fully understood, radioactive materials became the subject of a short-term popular craze. Radium, a highly radioactive mineral, found its way into cosmetics, foodstuffs, therapeutic clothing and one company even developed a water cooler designed to irradiate your drinking water. The common belief that radium’s energy could revitalize the human body eventually faded when those who used these products began to fall victim to cancer and other radiation-related illnesses. The buildings involved in the manufacture of radium-laced household products became so toxic that many of the sites retain a higher background radiation level even 100 years later.

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