3 ms·
Where does polonium come from in tobacco fields? If it’s in the topsoil then why wouldn’t it be depleted after 3 or 4 crops? Was it released into some Appalach
by hasmanean 3y ago
Where does polonium come from in tobacco fields? If it’s in the topsoil then why wouldn’t it be depleted after 3 or 4 crops?
Was it released into some Appalachian watershed by Oak Ridge and is therefore in the rivers/groundwater?
- HPsquared 3y agoPhosphate fertilizer, I think. It contains some polonium IIRC. Minerals have impurities.
- pfdietz 3y agoPolonium comes from uranium. It's on the decay chain, via radium and then radon. Soil contains uranium at about the same concentration as the underlying bedrock (typically a few ppm by mass.)