Post ASRTT2HVvamY0dI9AG by adamgreenfield@social.coop
(DIR) More posts by adamgreenfield@social.coop
(DIR) Post #ASPM4vTwT8VHyXk2Gu by jonty@chaos.social
2023-02-06T15:44:59Z
2 likes, 7 repeats
Favourite thing I've learned in 2023: Rosenthaler Platz U-Bahn station in Berlin is entirely decorated with radioactive uranium glazed tiles.@gigabecquerel visited with a geiger counter to check.https://chaos.social/@gigabecquerel/109818433760462038
(DIR) Post #ASRHjYQsxYGquKmklc by nanook@friendica.eskimo.com
2023-02-07T14:19:35Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
There was a group of elderly that were suffering from arthritis who went down into uranium mines because they perceived an improvement in their arthritis.Researchers concerned that they might be increasing their risk of cancer tracked a large cohort of volunteers that went into the mines and compared them with people with similar age and health statistics and found that they actually had lower cancer rates. Studies of their immune systems showed they were functioning better, attacking foreign bodies more effectively while at the same time a reduction in auto-immune responses.People living at high altitudes like Tibet also have the longest lifespans of anyone on the planet. There is some debate with respect to whether this is higher radiation or lower oxygen levels that are beneficial, but at any rate it does suggest that moderately above sea level background radiation levels are not only not a hazard but actually stimulate the immune system in a positive way and have a net negative effect on cancer.
(DIR) Post #ASRTCyDrFe3GmrvABc by InsertUser@en.osm.town
2023-02-06T21:55:50Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jonty @gigabecquerel ooh, next time take a UV torch, maybe they'll glow?https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vasline_glass_glowing.jpg
(DIR) Post #ASRTCzVGUPZOl94ZxQ by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-07T16:46:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@InsertUser @jonty @gigabecquerel Unfortunately, the orange U⁴⁺ ion is not fluorescent and cannot be identified in this fashion. The green fluorescence is a property of the U⁶⁺ or UO₂²⁺ ion.I say "unfortunately" because, when one is poking around antique shops, a little blacklight is MUCH less conspicuous than a Geiger counter.
(DIR) Post #ASRTMdT9GbCLJkgKgK by _maleficentgirl@troet.cafe
2023-02-07T07:50:09Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jonty @gigabecquerel @AndiBarth NopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNope so much Nope
(DIR) Post #ASRTMeGmI4tfnfty2S by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-07T16:47:48Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@_maleficentgirl @jonty @gigabecquerel @AndiBarth There's no practical difference between this, and the main railway station in Edinburgh, Scotland, which would be considered too radioactive to occupy if it were a nuclear energy facility. (The same is true of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, for the same reason : it's built of pink granite, which contains a certain quantity of uranium and thorium, and their decay products.)
(DIR) Post #ASRTT2HVvamY0dI9AG by adamgreenfield@social.coop
2023-02-07T13:18:24Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jonty @gigabecquerel fucking hell what
(DIR) Post #ASRTT2kaBW2BSmtMTQ by jonty@chaos.social
2023-02-07T13:34:22Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@adamgreenfield @gigabecquerel There's other stations decorated with them too! So good.
(DIR) Post #ASRTT36YrncCYxAujQ by adamgreenfield@social.coop
2023-02-07T13:36:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jonty @gigabecquerel SO GOOD EXCEPT I’VE ACTUALLY SPENT TIME IN THOSE STATIONS dammmnnnnn
(DIR) Post #ASRTT3b32S0A5VRGFc by adamgreenfield@social.coop
2023-02-07T13:36:38Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gigabecquerel @jonty (I have a disproportionate horror of ionizing radiation, dating to my cold-war childhood.)
(DIR) Post #ASRTT3ync905HAYEGu by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-07T16:48:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@adamgreenfield @gigabecquerel @jonty Well, then, you'd better stay away from the main railway station in Edinburgh, Scotland. The granite it is constructed of, like most granites, contains a certain quantity of uranium and thorium, with their decay products. If it were a nuclear energy facility, it would be considered too "hot" to occupy.
(DIR) Post #ASRTjSwqY8ipLcSWvI by chaostheorie@kolektiva.social
2023-02-07T15:38:49Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jonty @gigabecquerel For everyone who's very worried: Uranium almost entirely decays via alpha radiation, which is very dangerous and harmful if it comes from within your own body (because you ate or inhaled the radioactive element), but harmless from the outside. The particles get stuck in the dead layers of the skin. So as long as the tiles are well-sealed, it's fine. The type of radiation and where it comes from is crucial when it comes to determining how dangerous it is.
(DIR) Post #ASRTjTaYAWTtKl2EoC by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-07T16:51:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@chaostheorie @jonty @gigabecquerel The biggest danger would be from the build-up of radon gas. That, in turn, is dependent on how good or poor the ventilation is. Anyway, decades of "hot particle studies" make it difficult to avoid the conclusion that radon is primarily dangerous to smokers, because the healthy lung rapidly clears the radon daughters. (This conclusion is also supported by epidemiological evidence of uranium miners.)Of course, Germans smoke heavily, so that's cold comfort…
(DIR) Post #ASSAllkXueSsGg3BNw by chaostheorie@kolektiva.social
2023-02-07T22:31:20Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@publius @jonty @gigabecquerel I don't think that's a problem. An extraordinary number of decays are needed to even have a measurable amount of radon at all; that doesn't happen on short time scales. And underground stations are always heavily ventilated. Radon is only dangerous when it's had time to build up in bubbles in the earth's crust and then leaks into a basement or similar.
(DIR) Post #ASSJkg2oXT0js49JY0 by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-08T02:34:50Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@chaostheorie @jonty @gigabecquerel If I remember my decay schema correctly, since the equilibrium quantity of ²³⁴U will carry over through the chemical steps which have the effect of eliminating the other daughter products, the link in the chain which will pace the approach to equilibrium is ²³⁰Th, half-life something like 75 000 years.Berlin's Metro hasn't been around for anything like that long!It's funny that achieving equilibrium in the Th series takes only a decade or two.