Niagra Gold granite countertop measured with a Geiger counte

[Philios2Glory1]

I have a question, we Just brought a granite top slab for our kitchen, does that mean the slab we brought gives off radiation?

[y2knoproblem]

@Philios2Glory1 Yes it does. The same amount of radiation that people in Tokyo received from the hyped up fear mongering media reports of global nuclear meltdown. Seriously, the radiation received from your countertops is equivalent to spending a day out in the sun. As long as you don't sleep on your countertops everyday and carrying them around with with you in your pocket, you will be fine.

[DrMotorDude]

You ARE getting Gamma through the box, are you thinking of Beta?

[QualityMarbleAndTile]

Cold Spring Granite (granite slab supplier and distributor) will let you test your slabs of you wish if you have any doubts.

[QualityMarbleAndTile]

I have tested about 150 different granite colors, came across NOTHING. I really wanted to check on radon on granite but nothing came up and that was with three differnt ways of testing. This Geiger counter has this weird noise everywhere and I wouldn't take it so accurate and serious.

[lukevash]

lol thats nothing to worry about

[dahur]

I was wondering if the granite yard here willingly let you test the samples, or you just brought the LENi in, and did it, unbeknownst to them.

We want to have granite put in, but I am going to insist they let me test if first. I just ordered a LENi, and an Inspector Alert, they are on the way.

[dahur]

Actually, I believe the Houston granite was giving off higher readings than this one. In that home, 2 cats died of cancer, the maid died of cancer, and one of the home owners came down with a brain tumor. Coincidence?

[vbprgrmr]

Although it may be safe for most people, would you want your pregnant wife or girlfriend, standing near it, pressing against it as she prepares meals? I wouldn't.

[memo92306]

The soil around your house emits more radon. Please check scientific fact.

[ReconCraftTheta]

So, granite is radioactive, I just proved my science teacher wrong!!!

[educationneeded]

ReconCraftTheta, SOME Granite may contain radioactive materials; however, that does not mean that all granite contains amounts of radiation that can be measured above background levels.

[paintballers]

Where do i get a geiga counter?

[TCSRock78]

Ebay, but first joint a geiger counter group on yahoo so you don't buy a bad one.

[lucaeroteam]

ooohh wow...... so nice..

[CarlosXdotcom]

I have a geiger counter and there was a radiation leak from the local nuclear power plant, the back ground radiation shot up from 5 cpm to 55 cpm.

[ScoutCrafter]

I wouldn't want that in my house!

[pazsion]

radon is radioactive, and comes from the break down of uranium natural or man made.

Hmm, i wonder if there is a connectiong between elevated levels of radon and the !100,000's of thousands ! of nukes we' and the world has been testing.../using.

All the nuclear powerplants and their water sources and cooling towers and the water vapor released 24/7 365.. And the wastes they disperse everywhere..

[impress6]

There is radon in a potato! Check it out!

[Ballpythondude420]

Maybe you should do your homework before you form a conspiracy theory and post it on the internet...

[TCSRock78]

Pretty much all that will come through 18" of air is the Gamma which was my point. Sure some of the hotter Beta can travel that far, but they can't penetrate the sides of the meter box anyway. Look at our videos, we know full well that our Geiger counter measures Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.

By the way, the correct spellng is ingested, not "injested".

[pazsion]

dude, alpha,gamma,beta.. regardless of the type of radiation they travel very far depending on strength of it's origin..like the sun. gamma is usually that one that goes the furthest regardless of it's strength. and passes thru aluminum and steel. sound like you need to do some more fact finding..

[TCSRock78]

You are way off pazsion. Perhaps in a vacuum of space an Alpha or Beta particle might go some distance. Here on earth, contact with air molecules will slow down or stop all but the most energetic Beta and most all the Alpha.

You are right about the Gamma for the most parts. Energy compensated probes are normal probes with a thicker steel/tin shield that stops more of the low level (soft) x rays.

[TCSRock78]

Maybe you should do some research be for you start acting the expert. Radiation is not stopped by mere steel boxes. It takes 4" of lead to stop 87.5% of the Gamma. No matter how thick the lead is, a small amount will get through. Two feet of concrete will stop 87.5% as well, but a thin metal box or the skimpy lead lined apron used at the dentist office stops very little.

[alphamone]

though if you are around enough gama to do problems (as it is only the absorbed gama that does the serious damage, then you are probably in an environment with much more to worry about ; ) )

[educationneeded]

Not true. It depends on the energy of the gamma photon. Some gamma radiation has less energy than some betas. The lead aprons will totally stop the weaker gammas.

[Ballpythondude420]

most radition is harmless unless its injested somehow and radiation outisde of the body is easily disposed of...and your saying about gamma getting through the metal box shows how little you know

the probe part on a leni geiger counter like your model is and i qoute " a 2" Thin Mica Window Pancake Probe element" which is a glass window with a gas and metal positively charged rod that atracts electrons entering the tube FROM ALL FORMS OF RADITION.

[TCSRock78]

Sigh....

The granite fabricators do like to muddy the waters don't they?

Only a fool would say that most radiation is harmless. So this moron sets the tone right away for his message.

The metal box comment was refering to the radiation coming from the sides and front of the meter, not the bottom where the pancake probe is located.

[polonium9]

I WANT A SAMPLE OF THAT STUFF for scientific research and for colecting and for radioactivity YAY AWESOME GRANITE

[TCSRock78]

Smilodonus,

we did explain the background levels in the videos. It was 60 cpm on the LENi geiger counter and 6 uR/hr on the scintillator.

Too much is any over 100 mR per year. A counter is used about 700 hours per year for a working housewife just for meals. At that rate, a safe granite is under 142 uR/hr or

.142 mR. This top is hitting 3 mR in some areas, or 2,100 mR a year! 21 times the maxium level. This hotspot gives nearly 1 in a thousand risk of getting cancer after long use.

[vipervnm]

Wrong. Too much is anything over 5,000 mREM per year, or 1680microREM per hour. Stop spreading false information.

[TCSRock78]

Useful idiots come in two flavors for this topic, ignorant granite fabricators, and worse, an engineer that knows about half of what he thinks he knows.

A simple google search on "yearly recomended radiation dose"  will turn up something like this :

Radiation Workers ages 18 yrs and older = 50 mSv.

Trainees aged 18 yrs and older = 1 mSv

General public (frequent exposure) = 1 mSv

General public (infrequent exposure) = 5 mSv

[TCSRock78]

1 mSv = 100 mrem

But the most common recomended dose is 300 mrem per year, not 5,000 mrem.

What this moron fails to mention is that a radiation worker or an X ray tech is doing some public good in return for their exposure. And they are monitored by health physicists and drawing a paycheck with the full knowledge of their exposure risks.

[educationneeded]

50 mSv X 100 mrem/mSv = 5000 mrem seems like the same # as vipervnm stated. TCSRocks stated that someone was a "bald face liar" for posting this on his other video but here he states it himself. The limit in 10 CFR 20 for exposure from licensed activities for a member of the general public is 100 mrem OVER the 360 mrem that BEIR reports comes from background & medical. NCRP 160 (Mar 2009) will increase the 360 mrem due to an increase in med procedures.

[athsolid]

You are a fucking idiot, aren't you? Vipervnm stated 5,000 mrem (except he used capitals which proves he doesn't know anything about the subject).

And if you claim that 5,000 is the public allowed limit for radiation, you are a bald faced liar as well. Maxiumum allowed extra exposure is only 100 mrem per year, with only 25 to 30 mrem being allowed from one single source like a granite countertop.

You sir are an exceptionaly stupid person quite taken with the sound of your own voice.

[amethyst8teen]

You're right. The average person receives about 300 mrem per year. My annual dose rate was 387 mrem before I became involved in radiation. 5,000 mrem is the maximum dosage for anyone working with radiation. However, although damage caused by radiation is random and could occur at any time, the threshold for noticeable damage is 10,000 mrem per year.

[DrMotorDude]

@vipervnm "Too much is anything over 5000 mREM per year."

Could you cite your sources?

[TCSRock78]

What is wrong are your claims.

Sorry, we aren't talking about Radon here, but radiation. Mentioning Radon just shows how little you know about these issues.

And most caves are not granite but limestone.

Ahh, the sack of potatoes excuse. Again to show the woeful lack of intelligence, all one has to do is a simple Google search on the subject, but to save you the time, we did another vidoe on this very subject.

Is this guy lying or is he just stupid? My vote goes for stupid...

[educationneeded]

You have to use the correct instrument to read the radiation from food, but there are many published studies that substantiate it exists. TCSRock78 is simply using an instrument that is not meant to read the energy of radiation emitted from food. Radioactive exit signs used today contain tritium (H-3) not Ra-226. With his meter, he can measure a broken H-3 exit sign and say there is no radiation present when in fact there is. Know your instrument. 1 meter does not read all.

[athsolid]

Why are you attempting to discredit this issue? Looks like this guy is trying to get the hot stuff off the market. Your pretty dumb too, the radio nucliedes in food are the same as in granite, uranium, thorium, and potassium. They have the same exact energy levels regardless.

What is different is the amount of radiation. Food radiation is too low to detect except with liquid scintillation equipment.

Idiot...

[JoelThedude4u]

Radioactive is radioative in anyway, but some sources emit different rays like gama alpha and beta, which have different characteristics and penetration.

[impress6]

I work in the industry. This is just plain wrong. There is radon in everything that comes out of the earth. Gee, how did the caveman every survive living in cave of this stuff??

[TCSRock78]

No, you don't work in the industry, or you wouldn't be this ignorant. Radon comes from the decay of uranium, no where else. Radium is found in granite or soils based on decayed granite.

And cavemen didn't live long enough to get cancer from low level radiation.

[educationneeded]

Incorrect, Radon-222 comes directly from the decay of Radium-226 which is in the decay chain of uranium-238; and Radon-219 comes from the decay chain of uranium-235; HOWEVER, Radon-220 is in the decay chain of Thorium-232. Thorium-232 is present in nature and is not a component of Uranium-238 or Uranium-235. The science of health physics (radiation) is somewhat complex and best left to those specifically trained to understand the radiation interactions and correctly interpret meter readings.

[athsolid]

educationeeded,

you are splitting hairs. Radon is in the uranium decay chain just like TCSRock said . When talking to the public, it is more important to keep things simple rather than attempt to show others how much you can look up on google.

[stoneadvice]

That is simply idiotic....a sack of potatoes would register the same.

[joelb79]

@stoneadvice I checked my bag of potatoes with a CDV-700 with the beta window closed, and it registered 18cpm, and my background is 18cpm. I opened the beta window, and it registered 25cpm, and my background with beta window open is 25cpm. The meter he has is designed for gamma radiation only, and also for surveying high level fields, called a CDV-715. The readings he was getting were around 200 cpm. Since that was gamma only, that is way over background. Get a clue.

[Smilodonus]

OK, so granite counter tops have a little radiation. Why didn't the guy explain the baseline, and how much is too much?