What is the most radioactive food?

loperty

brazil nuts May 03 03, 2:42 AM

kerry8888

now thats something id never heard of.... :) http://www.weeuniverse.com/triviascience.html May 03 03, 2:47 AM

ClaraSue

But why is it? That site doesn't explain why. May 03 03, 7:59 PM

Siskin

This is why ClaraSue, but I don't understand a word of it!! The Brazil nut tree tends to accumulate high amounts of calcium. In the process, the nut also accumulates high levels of other Group II elements such as barium and radium. The radium, of course, is radioactive. The types of fact sheets mentioned earlier usually report concentrations of 14 pCi g-1 for Brazil nuts%97they may or may not state it but this represents the total alpha activity. The radioactivity in Brazil nuts is primarily due to an equal mix of the alpha emitter 226Ra and the beta emitter 228Ra. In a very extensive study, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) found 226Ra concentrations in these nuts to range from 0.1 to 3.5 pCi g-1. The concentrations of 228Ra ranged from 0.16 to 3.5 pCi g-1. Since 226Ra and 228Ra produce various short-lived alpha-emitting decay products (for example, 218Po, 216Po, 214Po, and 212Po), the total alpha activity is higher than that of 226Ra alone. The ORNL study stated that the total alpha activity in Brazil nuts ranged from 0.9 to 19 pCi g-1. The beta activity in these nuts is almost never reported. May 03 03, 8:32 PM

sequoianoir

I'm not sure how it compares but I'm sure that cooking food makes a significant difference. Not sure why you would cook a brazil nut though. The reason I say this is that several years ago I remember seeing it on TV. A geiger counter scanned some potatoes, hot oil and chip pan etc.... There was either very little reading or none at all from everything it was pointed at. The potatoes were turned into chips and suddenly they were significantly more radioactive than before. The more and more they were cooked, and the browner and then blacker they became, the higher the geiger counter registered. I understood it was down to the formation of carbon ( the pure element - maybe a specific isotope ) out of the carbon compounds found in all living things. I'm sure some comments were made at the end of the programme suggesting that consuming very large quantites of very burnt toast could probably be detrimental to health because of the radiation levels. I've also seen (heard) a geiger counter click loud and frequent when pointed at a burning cigarette. May 03 03, 10:54 PM