What Kind of Radioactive Material Do Smoke Detectors Have?
Throughout America, smoke detectors use a type of radioactive material known as americium-241. This element is necessary to allow the smoke detectors to work properly. Although the element is radioactive, the Environmental Protection Agency states that the material poses relatively no threat to users. “Match smoke” is Copyrighted by Flickr user: AMagill (Andrew Magill) under the Creative Commons Attribution license. jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery(‘#jsArticleStep1 span.image a:first’).attr(‘href’,’http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/5556606/17687622790e95ad4c4_Full.jpg’); }); Smoke flowing into the air Features Eighty percent of all smoke detectors in the home utilize americium-241. This radioactive element possesses a half life of 432 years, according to the EPA. Function When oxygen and nitrogen impact the device, electrons from the molecules are knocked off by americium-241. As this occurs, a positive ion is created, which attaches to a negatively-charged metal p
