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Re: taking apart smoke detectors



Working at ORNL and BNL, I have had my Radiation Worker I training and
the 18 yr old age limit is one of the things they stress (besides
pregnancy exposure). There are no high school tours allowed to the
radioactive areas and those that are old enough get film badges. So be
careful of the age, but also the source. The rate seems low enough not
to do any damage but alphas are a bad bunch. They do mostly surface
damage (radiation burns) so they may not "zap them sterile" as Karl
eloquently put it. However, all you need is a parent with a little
knowledge and a lawyer. Also, most if not all of the parents probably
live in fear of the word radiation (even though we get ~360 mrem of
radiation annually) so be careful of that too. Hope that helps with the
legal issues.


Sam Held


-----Original Message-----
From: Karl Trappe [mailto:trappe@PHYSICS.UTEXAS.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 1999 9:56 PM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Re: taking apart smoke detectors


I believe that federal law prohibits the exposure of any person age 17
or
younger to *ANY* level of radiation from an experiment.

Obviously, exposure to *no* radiation is impossible, so the wording is
to
make sure you do not trifle with the intent of the law, namely, that
students are to be expose to *no* laboratory experimentation involving
radioactive materials. From a practical standpoint, that means *no*
science fair projects involving radiation.

When they're old enough to have kids, however, you can zap them
sterile....smile, Karl

Dr. Karl I. Trappe Desk Phone: (512)
471-4152
Physics Dept, Mail Stop C-1600 Demo Office: (512)
471-5411
The University of Texas at Austin Home Phone: (512)
264-1616
Austin, Texas 78712-1081