Caution, radiation!

Do you like old photo equipment? Appreciate the old rare glass, giving a beautiful picture? Prefer time-tested glass and iron lenses? Look at the list at the end of the article. If you have one of the above - you are doomed.



It all started with a comment to the review of a photographic lens, the lenses of which contain thorium oxide
- This lens has a radiation background! Somehow I was going to buy this thing, but a very competent and sane (I bought more than one lens from him) the seller did not advise him because of the background.
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Just do not rush to swallow the taren, not read to the end.

Everything is relative.

Probably, if they were still produced, the phrase “LENS CAN BE THE CAUSE OF CANCER DISEASES” to meet modern standards would be an integral attribute of its advertising.

The statement that some photographic lenses possess ionizing radiation is generally true, and one can verify this with the aid of a device for measuring the power of such radiation.

Here is a good visual example:

Come on?

Really, radioactive. There's a piece of thorium in the glass. The usual such radioactive thorium . It literally tears apart , which flies at you at a furious pace in your face while you are looking at the model in the viewfinder.

With a monstrous speed - tens of thousands of kilometers per second. Do you even know how they affect the cells of living organisms?

And what to do?

Use the lens as intended. Set to camera and take pictures. Alpha particles are heavy, do not fly far and quickly lose energy. Not only will they get stuck in a centimeter of air, they also do not pierce the surface layer of the skin. Danger occurs only when ingested. You will not eat it, right? Although even in this case, the radiation does not threaten you. You will be cut by debris, and death from bleeding will occur sooner than in the body a sufficient dose of radiation is distributed so that his organs are affected by radiation sickness.

But what about the danger?

Depends on the ultimate goals. If you are looking for a lens that can be attached to the body of a living creature with a back lens for a long time - I would advise you to choose another model.

Can I take off my protective suit?

Of course not. Even the natural products that you eat also contain radioactive isotopes in some quantities. For example, a typical medium sized banana contains as much Kalia-40 as it does in your lens. Just think that there is another kind of decay. This is RADIATION .

There are many articles on radiation that surrounds us in everyday life. Sources can be not only glass with thorium, but also other various products: watches, household appliances, cars and even toys made from recycled toys for children.

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The previous version of the article can be found here .