[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



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