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How Radioactive Are You?

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YO!:
While working on my degree, we covered just about everything imaginable associated with radiation and emission. After learning about the many things that naturally emit radiation, the instructor laughed and said: “Stay away from muscular people eating bananas! The more muscular a person is the more radioactive the person is!"

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_radiation#Radiation_inside_the_human_body
"An average human contains about 30 milligrams of potassium-40 (40K) and about 10-8 grams of carbon-14 (14C)." That is the average human!  :-\

http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/natural.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/07/980729064343.htm

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/consumer.htm

Cathy:
How radioactive I am depends on which plant I just left!  ;D ;D ;D

SloGlo:
eye ain't as radioactive as dat muscular dude eating da spinach salad wit lima beans, some salt substitute (bean physiologically correct), sweet potatters, tatters, 'n bananas fer de cert.

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,13059.0.html

Rennhack:
I can't believe you would reference Wikipedia instead of the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) Reports.

YOUR links, showed different values for K-40 in the body;

Wikipedia stated "about" 30mg (did not state their reference).
Your link to ISU stated 17mg AND it states their data is from ICRP 30, a good reference.
Your link or ORAU doesn't state anything that I saw.

So I looked it up.  This is what I got:  There are 31 mg of K40 in a 75 kg person which gives an activity = 0.217 mCi = 8,000 Bq and 1.7x10-14 gms of C14 in a 75 kg person which gives an activity =.078 mCi = 2,900 Bq.


On the same subject, in a commentary for ASCH, Dr. Dade Moeller (BEIR VII panel) addressed people’s concern about radiation and said:

"For those who seek a radiation risk-free society, certain steps can be taken. They include:

Living at sea level, near the equator, in a well ventilated frame house, or as an alternative, in a wooden house-boat on a freshwater lake;
Avoiding mountain climbing, airline travel, cigarette smoking and the consumption of well waters and foods containing unusually high concentrations of naturally occurring radioactive materials.
Finally, if you find yourself in a crowded room and desire to keep your dose rate to minimum, you should always stand close to a woman -- to avoid receiving an unnecessarily high dose from k40."

Who says smart people don't have a sense of humor.

remowil55:
Who's afraid of a little Radiation ?

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