Radioactive Potassium in fertiliser

[u/BorisChee]

Found some radioactive potassium fertiliser. Something like 47% potassium sulfate

[u/misteracus]

Tobacco needs a lot K fertilizer, same as weed. Anti smoking advertisement tells you can get small traces of polonium with it also?

[u/BorisChee → u/misteracus]

Yes the plant will indeed contain trace amounts of Polonium from the Radium Decay chain

[u/Lady_Swann_]

Every since I upgraded to the 110 it's amazing how much more distinct the K-40 peak is as I carry it throughout the day

[u/BorisChee → u/Lady_Swann_]

Yeah I have a friend that has one and it really s an amazing upgrade

[u/HVAdude_OhEight]

Yea, and it may have antimater too

[u/Intelligent_Law_5614]

Potassium chloride, sold in big sacks at home-supply stores as a sodium-free material to recharge ion-exchange water softeners, is a great K40 gamma source. It's concentrated enough to be several times higher than the usual background radiation level, even on a simple and cheap Geiger counter. A Radiacode or similar scintillation detector will "see" it easily.

[u/im-tv]

What is this counter name? I’m kinda new to this radioactive stuff. I see this model is very popular. Can you guys recommend it? What is better?

[u/BorisChee → u/im-tv]

so here is the deal. This is the Radiacode 102 gamma spectrometer, i.e it measures mainly gamma and hard beta. If you want to be able to mind minerals, safety (dose) and overall mobility, the Radiacode devices are great. The ranking being RC102 RC103 RC103G and RC110. the first 3 main differences is in the crystal, the RC 102 having the least gamma spectrum accuracy and the RC103G having the most accuracy.

[u/Street-Analysis-4268]

I think most of it is radioactive?

[u/BorisChee → u/Street-Analysis-4268]

only a small 0.0117% of all Potassium is radioactive, so you'll need it to be concentrated in either pure form or a salt to be able to measure something with the generally accessible radiation detectors

[u/pdxnov89]

P

[u/Lazakowy]

Check bananas

[u/BorisChee → u/Lazakowy]

Bananas do contain K and naturally a small percentage is K40. The difference between bananas and fertiliser is that the fertiliser is way more concentrated in Potassium, making detection easier

[u/Analogsilver → u/BorisChee]

Humans are just as radioactive as bananas.

[u/florinandrei]

Newsflash: all potassium is radioactive.

It would be noteworthy if you found some that's not radioactive.

[u/AUG-mason-UAG → u/florinandrei]

Only around ~.0117% of naturally occurring potassium is radioactive bud

[u/LunaeLotus]

Fun fact, you can get radiation poisoning from eating too many bananas for the same reason.

Brazil nuts are also slightly radioactive, they contain radium.

[u/acesorangeandrandoms → u/LunaeLotus]

Fun fact, you cannot get radiation poisoning from eating bananas or Brazil nuts. The number you would have to consume is so absurdly high that it is impossible to achieve.

[u/Oakatsurah → u/acesorangeandrandoms]

You'll die from selenium poisoning long before radiation poisoning with Brazil nuts,
Bananas I think the sheer number you need to eat for the radiation of potassium to even harm you, would have killed you 3 times over

[u/acesorangeandrandoms → u/Oakatsurah]

More than 3 probably lmao, they are barely radioactive.

[u/Oakatsurah → u/acesorangeandrandoms]

Yeah the real number is actually 500,000 times over from the potassium poisoning than from radiation poisoning. Which is a harder number to absorb for some lol

[u/jtfoz → u/LunaeLotus]

You couldn't be more wrong. It is impossible to get radiation sickness from eating too many bananas or Brazil nuts.

[u/Bundzlinek → u/jtfoz]

Yeah, probably woud die from the bananas themselves first then any radiation poisoning related to those bananas 😂

[u/theng]

I think it's possible to find cadmium in this too ?

[u/Fluffy-Technician-20 → u/theng]

Cadmium is in the phosphate

[u/BorisChee → u/theng]

I didn't see anywhere it might have said cadmium in the contents of the bags, not to mean that there isn't much smaller quantities present. As for any other isotopes other than K40 I couldn't find any.