My IPad is Radioactive!!! Did Not Expect That...

[alexveeuk]

So I can have an ipad2 on my lap without any painful tumours appearing 30-40 years later or have any mutant children

[ALLERTORLOVER69]

so is my wist watch. my alarm clock t

our natural atmosphere

[antiprotons]

@ALLERTORLOVER69 Yes, that is true. My point being that the iPad Mk 1, at least mine, seems to be a beta emitter above and beyond normal background at 68 CPM on my Geiger counter. That's not exactly potent, but I keep that unit near my most of the day and night. 1440 min/day x 68 = 97920 detections/day. That's like being near a 0.1 uCi beta source for 30 seconds each day.

If nothing more, it was suprising.

[AskHack]

one or more IPOD parts are made in Fukishima. I would imagine that some of the parts the IPADS would be as well just sayin.

[lockedandloaded59]

Every thong wifi is radioactive phones laptops radios and Even ipads all are radioactive the phone I am using is radiative but who will stop me?

[antiprotons]

@lockedandloaded59 Remember, there is a difference between ionizing radiation (i.e. nuclear radiation) and electromagnetic radiation. You are correct that all electronics are someone electromagnetically radioactive. This is not to be confused with alpha, beta, gamma, or x-ray nuclear radiation.

My test involves the detection of nuclear radiation.

[FatimaSole]

so electrostatic discharge affects the readings? I didn't know that. Do they affect a lot? Thanks, Tom, very interesting videos as always!!

[antiprotons]

@FatimaSole A Geiger tube is based upon a circuit completing when a particle (electron, photon, etc) passes through. Electronmagnetic feilds can affect this delicate balance. Readings can be low, high, or occur without reason.

In all reality, the electromagnetic field from the iPad probably does nothing, but I wanted to ensure everything was a "correct" as possible.

[EmmanuelGoldstein198]

Potassium carbonate is often used in high quality, high clarity glass to include eyeglasses back when they were made with optical quality glass instead of plastic. Within it, there will always be a tiny amount of the naturally occurring isotope Potassium-40 which is very mildly radioactive. You will find the same phenomena next to a paper container of any salt substitute which has a high percentage of potassium chloride in it or near bags of water softener pellets, also potassium chloride.

[antiprotons]

@EmmanuelGoldstein198 If you watch some of my videos, I have a fondness for K40. I often use it in my videos when explaining Beta radiation to people. Tastes good on food too.

I am unsure, until I use a scintillator, what the culprit isotope is. I could be radiotin, radioindium, or perhaps K40, as you suggest.

Potassium 40 puts out a heafty punch, it just does not have the activity to be a problem. Too little flux to be dangerous.

Please, check out my k40 videos. lol watch?v=OFzuqFbFKTE

[antiprotons]

@EmmanuelGoldstein198 If you watch some of my videos, I have a fondness for K40. I often use it in my videos when explaining Beta radiation to people. Tastes good on food too.

I am unsure, until I use a scintillator, what the culprit isotope is. I could be radiotin, radioindium, or perhaps K40, as you suggest.

Potassium 40 puts out a heafty punch, it just does not have the activity to be a problem. Too little flux to be dangerous.

Please, check out my k40 videos. lol watch?v=OFzuqFbFKTE

[antiprotons]

@EmmanuelGoldstein198 If you watch some of my videos, I have a fondness for K40. I often use it in my videos when explaining Beta radiation to people. Tastes good on food too.

I am unsure, until I use a scintillator, what the culprit isotope is. I could be radiotin, radioindium, or perhaps K40, as you suggest.

Potassium 40 puts out a heafty punch, it just does not have the activity to be a problem. Too little flux to be dangerous.

Please, check out my k40 videos. lol watch?v=OFzuqFbFKTE

[antiprotons]

@EmmanuelGoldstein198 If you watch some of my videos, I have a fondness for K40. I often use it in my videos when explaining Beta radiation to people. Tastes good on food too.

I am unsure, until I use a scintillator, what the culprit isotope is. I could be radiotin, radioindium, or perhaps K40, as you suggest.

Potassium 40 puts out a heafty punch, it just does not have the activity to be a problem. Too little flux to be dangerous.

Please, check out my k40 videos. lol watch? v=OFzuqFbFKTE

[radientbeing]

I am doing Ipad testing and also found out that most toilets are radioactive.

[sunwarz]

Dude when did you buy your Ipad ? Was it made in Japan?

[antiprotons]

@sunwarz Perhaps, but it would not matter. I bought my IPad a year ago. Being from Japan does not make something radioactive. Most products from Japan are not radioactive.

[GoddardsJournal]

Because the radiation seems to be equal everywhere on the front, I can't help but wonder if the screen is lightly thoriated. Though I doubt it, just a shot in the dark.

[antiprotons]

NOTE: Sorry for the long video, but with something like this it is VERY important to ensure that you can show everything. I do not want people to think anything is false or fake, so I show the entire video start to finish in one filming.

[iamgoddard]

Like the rain and the hot truck potrblog ran into, despite probably finding almost nothing from Fukushima as detected by personal Geiger counters in the US, people will instead finds many other interesting sources.

Btw, I saw some threads on the apple help forums about this issue, but haven't logged in to read them. I suspect they fixed this with the ipad 2.

[antiprotons]

@iamgoddard When I spoke with Apple, the person I spoke with stated that they had never heard of this before. Of course, this was a tech on the phone and not someone who might really know.

I love finding radioactive stuff in my world... and getting rid of it. =)

[joelb79]

Thats awesome. Thumbs up! are you going to scintillate this to determine the contaminate? I bet you its potassium, considering the aluminum back stopped most but not all of it.

[antiprotons]

@joelb79 I have heard a few suggestions that it may be Indium in the LCD, but I cannot confirm this. There are thousands of radioactive isotopes. I might consider it.

I hope I get some time on a scintillator soon.

[joelb79]

@antiprotons PRA (free program), your Inspector Alert, and a scintillation probe should do the trick, along with long sampling times. Use your computers audio port to sample, and PRA should do the trick.

[antiprotons]

NOTES: I have contacted Apple and let them know. They gave me a case number and said they would look into it. I am no expert, but I think it is probably safe. I get much higher readings from Potassium Salt and the brick on my house.

Just thought everyone would like to take a peek.

ALSO! I did not discover this. I learned about this from anouther person. I do NOT want to take credit for what they found.

Also, This is my OPINION for my OWN IPad only. =)

[radalerts]

Of course it's not dangerous! The count was tiny, and no different to many objects we've used for centuries. People hear a geiger counter click 3 times and panic! If they'd received any sort of science education, they'd know it wasn't a big deal. If our caveman ancestors had to consult a material safety tablet with every new rock they found, we'd never have got out of caves. It's the 21st century people!

[antiprotons]

@radalerts Technically speaking, any radiation can be of hazard. In realality, 60-80 CPM above background is probably no big deal. I often handel my Polonium 210 source (222,000 CPM) and my Depression glass (14,000 CPM).

My point was that it was unexpected and interesting.

Remember, the count AND the energy are improtant. We do not know the energy associated with this. It is probably around the 1/2 MeV range, but that is a guess.