Why Are Smoke Detectors Radioactive?
Smoke detectors in the United States are radioactive due to the presence of an element necessary for their proper function. Without the radioactive element, there is no way for the average smoke detector to work. “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/5556602/17687622790e95ad4c4_Full.jpg’); }); Smoke Features According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 80 percent of all household smoke detectors in the United States contain a radioactive element, americium-241, with a half life of 432 years. Function Americium-241 knocks an electron from molecules in the nitrogen and oxygen in the air. In regular circumstances, this creates a positive ion that becomes attracted to a negatively-charged metal plate within the device. Effects When smoke is absorbed within the smoke dete
