How Radioactive Is Your Banana?

David W. Ball
Department of Chemistry, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115
J. Chem. Educ., 2004, 81 (10), p 1440
DOI: 10.1021/ed081p1440
Publication Date (Web): October 1, 2004

Abstract

This exercise uses a banana to illustrate the level of radioactivity (in this case, from 40K) in an everyday object.

Keywords (Audience):

High School / Introductory Chemistry

Keywords (Domain):

Physical Chemistry

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Humor / Puzzles / Games

Keywords (Subject):

Food Science
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This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

  • Cover Image

    How Radioactive Are You?

    I. A. Leenson
    Journal of Chemical Education2006 83 (2), 214

    • How Radioactive Are You?

      I. A. Leenson
      Journal of Chemical Education2006 83 (2), 214

      In October 2004, David W. Ball published a paper entitled “How Radioactive Is Your Banana?” He calculated that the activity of a big banana equals 18.4 Bq (decays per second). From this information the activity of an average human body can be ...

      Abstract | PDFHi-Res PDF | PDFPDF w/ Links

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History

  • Received: August 03, 2009

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