Nuclear Radiation Used In Smoke Alarms

Ionization smoke detectors use the alpha particles from americium oxide amo2 to detect smoke.

Nuclear fusion animation nuclear powered aircraft carrier. One gram of amo2 provides enough material for more than three million smoke detectors. David charles hahn october 30 1976 september 27 2016 sometimes called the radioactive boy scout or the nuclear boy scout was an american man who built a homemade neutron source at the age of seventeen. If smoke enters the alarm this absorbs the a particles the current reduces and the alarm sounds.

Each isotope used in these applications has a characteristic half life. Ionization smoke detectors have a small americium source encased in a layer of foil and ceramic which stops the alpha particles from traveling outside of the smoke detector. Americium 241 is used in smoke detectors because it is a strong alpha particle emitter.

Most modern ionization smoke detectors use the synthetic. The plutonium 241 in spent nuclear fuel decays to form americium 241. Most household smoke detectors use the alpha particles emitted by radioactive americium 241.

A detector will see if alpha r. The primary radiation from a smoke detector is atomic particle called an alpha particle which can travel only a short distance but has the ability to charge the air molecules in the ionization chamber inside the smoke detector thereby creating the current necessary to operate the detector. Thickness monitoring radiation is absorbed as it passes through materials.

Alpha particles are emitted from here which ionise the air so that the air conducts electricity and a small current flows. Radioactive isotopes are used for blood flow monitoring cancer treatment paper mills carbon dating and smoke alarms. Smoke alarms contain a weak source made of americium 241.

How is radioactivity used in a smoke detector. Alpha particles are the weakest kind of radioactive decay and can be stopped by a sheet of paper. Americium 241 is the most common material used as the alpha emitter in a domestic smoke alarm.

There are two types of smoke detector technologies in widespread usage. How does a smoke detector work. This is why am 241 is needed.

The radioactive source in a smoke detector is americium 241. A scout in the boy scouts of america hahn conducted his experiments in secret in a backyard shed at his mothers house in commerce township michigan.