There's radioactive material in smoke alarms.

[Renew Deal]

I didn't realize this until the other day when I came across a very old smoke alarm. It had a radioactive symbol on it. I looked it up and smoke alarms use Americium for the detection.

From the EPA:

How much radiation is in smoke detectors?
The radiation source in an ionization chamber detector is a very small disc, about 3 to 5 millimeters in diameter, weighing about 0.5 gram. It is a composite of americium-241 in a gold matrix. The average activity in a smoke detector source is about one microcurie, 1 millionth of a curie.

Americium emits alpha particles and low energy gamma rays. It has a half-life of about 432 years. The long half-life means that americium decays very slowly, emitting very little radiation. At the end of the 10 year useful life of the smoke detector, it retains essentially all its original activity.

How much radiation exposure will I get from a smoke detector?

As long as the radiation source stays in the detector, exposures would be negligible (less than about 1/100 of a millirem per year), since alpha particles cannot travel very far or penetrate even a single sheet of paper, and the gamma rays emitted by americium are relatively weak. If the source were removed, it would be very easy for a small child to swallow, but even then exposures would be very low because the source would pass through the body fairly rapidly (by contrast, the same amount of americium in a loose powdered form would give a significant dose if swallowed or inhaled). Still, its not a good idea to separate the source from the detector apparatus.

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/sources/smoke_alarm.html

[Taitertots]

1. Years ago there was an article in Readers Digest about a young man...

Who collected a large quantity of it in an attempt to build some sort of nuclear reactor. Suffice to say all he ended up doing was exposing himself to radiation and got in a lot of trouble when the police found his nuclear device (duct taped closed toolbox).

[AngryAmish]

2. Same topic but from Harper's

Last I heard he was rearrested for his radioactive antics and was suffering from radiation poisoning.

this is his pic

[hunter]

4. Mental illness sucks.

:(

[One_Life_To_Give]

3. Some, not all smoke alarms

The more sensitive Ionization Detectors have Americium. However the Photo-Detectors do not.