Re: taking apart smoke detectors

["Shapiro, Mark" <mshapiro@EXCHANGE.FULLERTON.EDU>]

I would caution strongly against removing alpha sources from smoke
detectors.  The inhalation of alpha emitting material is a serious hazard to
one's health.

Mark Shapiro

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marc Reif [SMTP:mreif@ECS1.NWSC.K12.AR.US]
> Sent: Thursday, April 22, 1999 1:45 PM
> To:   PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
> Subject:      Re: taking apart smoke detectors
>
> I believe the student mentioned below (at least, it was a similar
> case) was the subject of an interesting article in Harper's Magazine
> in the last year.
>
>  There was an incident where a
> > high school student collected defective detectors by the dozen and
> removed and
> > concentrated the Americium. He did the same thing with lantern mantles
> and Thorium
> > and tried to make a reactor. This resulted in quite a radioactive
> cleanup problem.
> > I would avoid doing this in high school for this reason.
> >
> > Dan Burns
> > Los Gatos High School
> >
> > Tim Sullivan x5830 wrote:
> Marc Reif
> Physics
> Fayetteville High School
> 1001 W. Stone St.
> Fayetteville, AR  72701
> Voicemail at 501-444-3050 Ext. 566
> Fax 501-444-3056