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While it might be environmentally friendly to fly, or cosmically irrelevant, my life is enriched by visiting places. You don't like far off vacations? I'd love

by croon 10y ago

While it might be environmentally friendly to fly, or cosmically irrelevant, my life is enriched by visiting places. You don't like far off vacations? I'd love some Matrix-like virtual reality in the future though.

13of40 10y ago
Last flight I was on, I took my friend's mini-geiger-counter, and the radiation level at 35,000 feet (over Oregon, not the Arctic or anything) was fifty times the background radiation at the airport. Obviously it's not acutely dangerous, but you have to wonder how many, say, cigarettes that's equivalent to as far as cancer risk.
- dotBen 10y ago
  If the laptop ban comes into force, I doubt you will be able to bring that Geiger counter on board either...
- tyingq 10y ago
  Doesn't include cigarettes, but shows a NY to LA flight as equivalent to 2 chest x-rays: https://xkcd.com/radiation/ https://xkcd.com/radiation/
- ekianjo 10y ago
  Indeed flight crews have an elevated cancer risk: http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20031021/flight-crews-have-higher-cancer-risk http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20031021/flight-crew... But the risk is 50% more than normal, which is not extremely high compared to how much more radiation exposure they get. EDIT: Flight crews working on intercontinental flights have higher yearly exposure than nuclear workers apparently (https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/27/radiation-exposure_final_2_custom-a69d480c330b8d77a7c99574c076d65770521032-s800-c15.jpg https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/27/radiation-exposu...)
- draugadrotten 10y ago
  Answer: For each flight, you get 2.3 cigarettes worth of radioactivity. You would need to fly 4572 East-West coast flights per year to reach same dose as from smoking 1.5 packs of cigarettes per day. --- Data points: Smoking 1.5 packs of cigarettes per day is equivalent to between 60 and 160 milliSievert per year http://mathscinotes.com/2014/01/radiation-exposure-from-cigarette-smoking/ http://mathscinotes.com/2014/01/radiation-exposure-from-ciga... With 20 cigarettes this means 10958 cigarettes. At about 160 milliSievert, we get 0,014601205 milliSivert per cigarette. You would be exposed to about 0.035 mSv (3.5 mrem) of cosmic radiation if you were to fly within the United States from the east coast to the west coast. https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/air_travel.html https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/air_travel.html
  - moioci 10y ago
    I think that's 345 banana equivalents. (Since you can't smoke on the plane.)
bostand 10y ago
Goole street map + htc vive + order food from Chinatown Probably 50% of the experience without the risk of being used as a battery.
tonyedgecombe 10y ago
No, I've become somewhat sceptical about the 'benefits' of travel, mostly it seems to have become more about one-upmanship than anything else.
- croon 10y ago
  That is definitely a thing, but you only have to care about what you bring into it. I don't care about travelling for show, but to places I find interesting. But if you don't get anything out of it other than the stamp in your passport then I guess it's not for you.

by croon 10y ago

13of40 10y ago

Last flight I was on, I took my friend's mini-geiger-counter, and the radiation level at 35,000 feet (over Oregon, not the Arctic or anything) was fifty times the background radiation at the airport. Obviously it's not acutely dangerous, but you have to wonder how many, say, cigarettes that's equivalent to as far as cancer risk.

dotBen 10y ago
If the laptop ban comes into force, I doubt you will be able to bring that Geiger counter on board either...
tyingq 10y ago
Doesn't include cigarettes, but shows a NY to LA flight as equivalent to 2 chest x-rays: https://xkcd.com/radiation/ https://xkcd.com/radiation/
ekianjo 10y ago
Indeed flight crews have an elevated cancer risk: http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20031021/flight-crews-have-higher-cancer-risk http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20031021/flight-crew... But the risk is 50% more than normal, which is not extremely high compared to how much more radiation exposure they get. EDIT: Flight crews working on intercontinental flights have higher yearly exposure than nuclear workers apparently (https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/27/radiation-exposure_final_2_custom-a69d480c330b8d77a7c99574c076d65770521032-s800-c15.jpg https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/11/27/radiation-exposu...)
draugadrotten 10y ago
Answer: For each flight, you get 2.3 cigarettes worth of radioactivity. You would need to fly 4572 East-West coast flights per year to reach same dose as from smoking 1.5 packs of cigarettes per day. --- Data points: Smoking 1.5 packs of cigarettes per day is equivalent to between 60 and 160 milliSievert per year http://mathscinotes.com/2014/01/radiation-exposure-from-cigarette-smoking/ http://mathscinotes.com/2014/01/radiation-exposure-from-ciga... With 20 cigarettes this means 10958 cigarettes. At about 160 milliSievert, we get 0,014601205 milliSivert per cigarette. You would be exposed to about 0.035 mSv (3.5 mrem) of cosmic radiation if you were to fly within the United States from the east coast to the west coast. https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/air_travel.html https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/air_travel.html
- moioci 10y ago
  I think that's 345 banana equivalents. (Since you can't smoke on the plane.)

bostand 10y ago

Goole street map + htc vive + order food from Chinatown Probably 50% of the experience without the risk of being used as a battery.

tonyedgecombe 10y ago

No, I've become somewhat sceptical about the 'benefits' of travel, mostly it seems to have become more about one-upmanship than anything else.

croon 10y ago
That is definitely a thing, but you only have to care about what you bring into it. I don't care about travelling for show, but to places I find interesting. But if you don't get anything out of it other than the stamp in your passport then I guess it's not for you.