4 ms·

Wow, I never thought of Brazil nuts being that radioactive. I guess because they pick up more metals from the soil? They're very high in selenium. I've definit

Wow, I never thought of Brazil nuts being that radioactive. I guess because they pick up more metals from the soil? They're very high in selenium. I've definitely picked up the radioactivity of bananas on my Geiger counter, but now I think I gotta run out and get a bag of Brazil nuts.

01100011 3y ago
In my experience it will vary greatly with where they are grown. The ones I have gotten from Costco aren't above background. Keep in mind that the level of uranium could be above what you'd want to consume (ideally 0ppm...ha) and still not measure on a Geiger counter. This is why I wanted to setup a scintillating detector. You have to do long running tests in a shielded chamber and look at the spectra to see what, if any, contaminates are present.
- ravenstine 3y ago
  Interesting. By no means am I a nuclear expert, so there's a high likelihood I wasn't measuring what I thought I was measuring. What I thought I experienced consistently was a few extra CPM when I placed a bunch of bananas next to my off-the-shelf Geiger counter. Wish I kept track of what I actually measured. I'll have to try again.
  - 01100011 3y ago
    Bananas will read higher. I'm talking about brazil nuts. It depends on the food and what the source of the radiation is. If you want to find low level uranium contamination in most foods, you'll need something more sensitive than a geiger counter. If it was enough to see on the geiger counter, eating it would be a really bad idea.
TheFattestNinja 3y ago
There is a House M.D. episode based on this ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_It_Takes_(House) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_It_Takes_(House) ), where the titular Dr. is called in to diagnose and treat a CIA agent poisoning, [SPOILER AHEAD] but due to the secrecy of the agent's work they are given an amended patient travel history when really they had been to Brazil.

01100011 3y ago

In my experience it will vary greatly with where they are grown. The ones I have gotten from Costco aren't above background. Keep in mind that the level of uranium could be above what you'd want to consume (ideally 0ppm...ha) and still not measure on a Geiger counter. This is why I wanted to setup a scintillating detector. You have to do long running tests in a shielded chamber and look at the spectra to see what, if any, contaminates are present.

ravenstine 3y ago
Interesting. By no means am I a nuclear expert, so there's a high likelihood I wasn't measuring what I thought I was measuring. What I thought I experienced consistently was a few extra CPM when I placed a bunch of bananas next to my off-the-shelf Geiger counter. Wish I kept track of what I actually measured. I'll have to try again.
- 01100011 3y ago
  Bananas will read higher. I'm talking about brazil nuts. It depends on the food and what the source of the radiation is. If you want to find low level uranium contamination in most foods, you'll need something more sensitive than a geiger counter. If it was enough to see on the geiger counter, eating it would be a really bad idea.

TheFattestNinja 3y ago

There is a House M.D. episode based on this ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_It_Takes_(House) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_It_Takes_(House) ), where the titular Dr. is called in to diagnose and treat a CIA agent poisoning, [SPOILER AHEAD] but due to the secrecy of the agent's work they are given an amended patient travel history when really they had been to Brazil.