Re: taking apart smoke detectors

[Tim Sullivan x5830 <sullivan@KENYON.EDU>]

Mark Shapiro wrote:

> I would caution strongly against removing alpha sources from smoke
> detectors.  The inhalation of alpha emitting material is a serious hazard to
> one's health.

> Mark Shapiro


There may be several reasons why taking apart smoke detectors is a bad idea,
but, as may have been mentioned before in this
thread, the radioactive material is incorporated into the body of a metal foil
and is not an inhalation hazard.

Several people have expressed worries about lawsuits in regard to giving
students experience with radioactivity. It is ironic that electrical shock is
surely a greater hazard in physics labs than reasonably designed radiation
labs. I have been following in the news a hopeful innovation in the law that
has a chance of returning the legal system to some sense of sanity in regard to
scientific questions. It seems that the courts are moving to a system of
appointing impartial experts to put the technical issues into the context of
mainstream science. Based on the advice of the expert, judges can exclude the
testimony of fringe scientific opinions.

Tim Sullivan
sullivan@kenyon.edu