[time-nuts] How dangerous if Rb lamp broken?
Magnus Danielson
magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org
Tue Jul 9 13:50:54 UTC 2013
Hi Robert,
On 07/09/2013 01:49 PM, Robert Atkinson wrote:
> Hi
> Why are so many people radiophobic? As in ionising radiation. There are far more hazardous things in our hobby, electrocution and falling from a height be two of the big killers. I defy anyone to come up with a confirmed case of death caused by radiation as part of our hobby. Lead, solder flux, mercury, PCB's (the chemical in some caps and transformers) and cleaning solvents are all more harmful to our health. The use of radioisotopes directly or indirectly saves lives every day. Coal fired powerstations release more long life radioactive isotopes ro the environment than a nuclear one would ever be permitted to, plus a load of heavy metals.
They know it can be dangerous, but they don't understand the danger, and
becomes overcautious. Kinda good in a way, and tells you more how the
human basic survival instinct works.
There is several things you need to learn and the safety precaustions
takes a bit of knowledge about what material it is, what decay they have
etc. That's a bit more complex than "stay the hell away". Not everyone
has the interest needed to learn how it actually works.
Cheers,
Magnus
More information about the Time-nuts_lists.febo.com
mailing list