6 responses to “The Alcohol You Drink Must Be Radioactive – By Law”
Man Mountain Molehill
Good explanation of C14 to start, gets a little weird towards the end. Nothing he says only applies to alcohol, all food has active C14. The wiki entry on C14 is interesting. C14 is about 1.5 parts per trillion. A gram of carbon will emit about .192 beta particles per second. A beta particle being a high energy electron spewed out by the nucleus as it converts to nitrogen.
If you’re worried about radioactive food, consider that bananas concentrate potassium, and enough of natural potassium is a radioactive isotope for a banana to be detectable with a geiger counter.
Or consider that tobacco can concentrate naturally occurring polonium, which is an alpha emitter, very dangerous once it’s in your lungs.
captain*arizona
during world war 11 allies were looking for info on nazi a bomb material and as a joke a scientist sent a couple of bottles wine back to america for his friends with a note inspect this. big mistake!!!
Man Mountain Molehill
There’s no need to produce low C14 alcohol from petroleum (I mean, yuck, who’s gonna drink this stuff?), just grow the vines, barley, whatever in soil that contains fossil carbon. Volcanic soil might be a good starting place.
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6 responses to “The Alcohol You Drink Must Be Radioactive – By Law”
Good explanation of C14 to start, gets a little weird towards the end. Nothing he says only applies to alcohol, all food has active C14. The wiki entry on C14 is interesting. C14 is about 1.5 parts per trillion. A gram of carbon will emit about .192 beta particles per second. A beta particle being a high energy electron spewed out by the nucleus as it converts to nitrogen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-14
And an article on the biological effects of radiation:
http://www.foothill.edu/psme/larson/resources/1C-Lecture-and-Lab/Chapter-21.4—Biological-Effects-and-Usage.pdf
If you’re worried about radioactive food, consider that bananas concentrate potassium, and enough of natural potassium is a radioactive isotope for a banana to be detectable with a geiger counter.
Or consider that tobacco can concentrate naturally occurring polonium, which is an alpha emitter, very dangerous once it’s in your lungs.
during world war 11 allies were looking for info on nazi a bomb material and as a joke a scientist sent a couple of bottles wine back to america for his friends with a note inspect this. big mistake!!!
There’s no need to produce low C14 alcohol from petroleum (I mean, yuck, who’s gonna drink this stuff?), just grow the vines, barley, whatever in soil that contains fossil carbon. Volcanic soil might be a good starting place.
MMM,
Plants get C from the air.
In a greenhouse with CO2 generated from coal.
The fossil fuel part of CO2 in the atmosphere is about 3%. Not too significant.