Why are Smoke Detectors Radioactive? And How do Smoke Detectors Work?
Branch Education
Sep 29, 2022 12:30
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You probably have a few smoke detectors throughout your house, but did you know that many designs of smoke detectors are radioactive? Well in this video we explore how smoke detectors work, and how they use the radioactive isotope Americium-241 to detect smoke. We'll also explore how Geiger counters work, and then how atoms of high atomic numbers are counterintuitively small. Smoke detectors are perfectly safe, and save lives. So make sure that they work on a regular basis.
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Table of Contents:
Key Branches from this video are: How does a Computer Mouse Work?
Erratum:
at 9min15sec - We talked about the strong nuclear force holding together the nucleus, which is accurate. However radioactive decay is a result of the weak nuclear force, which wasn't mentioned.
Note:
We recommend not taking apart the inside of a smoke detector. It is such a small amount of Americium, but if mishandled it can result in illness.
Animation: Mike Radjabov
Script, Modeling: Teddy Tablante
Twitter: @teddytablante
Modeling: Prakash Kakadiya
Voice Over: Phil Lee
Sound Design: Luis Huesca
Animation built using Blender 3.2 https://www.blender.org/
Image Credit:
Cloud Chamber of Am-241 - Kebukawan on commons.wikimedia.org.
References:
Background on Smoke Detectors https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/smoke-detectors.html
How do Smoke Detectors Work? https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/smoke.htm
Ionization Detectors https://circuitcellar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/CC2011110601.pdf
Ionization vs Photoelectric https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Staying-safe/Safety-equipment/Smoke-alarms/Ionization-vs-photoelectric
Smoke Detector Circuit https://www.electroschematics.com/smoke-detector-circuit/
Wikipedia contributors. "Alpha Particle". "Americium-241". "Cloud Chamber". "Radioactive Decay". "Smoke Detector" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Visited September 2022
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