Can Fossils Have Higher Than Background Radiation?

[Sundancer73]

Guess I should put my old luminous dial watch in a lead box and bury it..

Sheesh

~Mike

[pleecan]

Guess I should put my old luminous dial watch in a lead box and bury it..

Sheesh

~Mike

If it is the old radium dial glow in the dark watch dial... I would limit wearing the watch.. you do not need to bury it.... Personally if I had a watch that I knew had a radium dial... I would not wear it... just a personal choice.... PL

[2ynpigo]

Obviously high doses of any ionizing radiation is bad for you. With respect to low doses, alpha emitters, if ingested, are considered to be the most harmful to the human body.

Edited December 17, 2009 by 2ynpigo

[pleecan]

Obviously high doses of any ionizing radiation is bad for you. With respect to low doses, alpha emitters, if ingested, are considered to be the most harmful to the human body.

Agree.... alpha emitters especially if inhaled can get lodged in the lungs,.... body has mechanisms to sweep debris/mucus from the lungs into gastro intestinal tract further internalizing the radiation... radiation exposure can be associated with increased probability of tumorgenesis that can manifest as pathological disease such cancer. PL

[Wakaritai]

I doubt the levels would be high enough above background to be of any use if you're wanting to casually walk by and detect fossils. However, I bet that you could do something similar to a photograph (radioactive exposure over time) to reveal potential areas to search. But you'd have to find something that is radio-sensitive, and ... well, a bunch of things. Basically re-invent the camera.

If you're industrious and have some free time to research the related fields, then there is potential to not only fulfill your curiosity, but to fill your wallet as well. That is, if it works Of course it is risky, but little that is of any use isn't for the first few who do it.

[pleecan]

I doubt the levels would be high enough above background to be of any use if you're wanting to casually walk by and detect fossils. However, I bet that you could do something similar to a photograph (radioactive exposure over time) to reveal potential areas to search. But you'd have to find something that is radio-sensitive, and ... well, a bunch of things. Basically re-invent the camera.

If you're industrious and have some free time to research the related fields, then there is potential to not only fulfill your curiosity, but to fill your wallet as well. That is, if it works Of course it is risky, but little that is of any use isn't for the first few who do it.

Something like a real time scintillation detector with visual imaging superimposed on it... kind of like a dino imager into the ground... thought experiments are always interesting and cheap ... welcome to the forum Wakaritai!

Peter

[John]

There have been some experiments done in the Morrison Formation that attempted to find dinosaur bones this way. The results have generally been pretty poor, but there is one example of an Allosaur which was partially excavated in the past that the remaining bones were found during the experiments.

[pleecan]

There have been some experiments done in the Morrison Formation that attempted to find dinosaur bones this way. The results have generally been pretty poor, but there is one example of an Allosaur which was partially excavated in the past that the remaining bones were found during the experiments.

Thanks John for your reply.... interesting observation.

Peter

[Boesse]

Thought I'd mention - we were playing around with a geiger counter at Museum of the Rockies; a friend of mine is cutting up a "Torosaurus" humerus that is pretty hot, and had to be transported to MOR from Minnesota in a Stinger Missile case.

A small baleen whale skull I'm preparing is three times higher than background, and a triceratops skull in the prep lab is about 3.5-4.5 times higher than background. Fun....

Bobby

[pleecan]

Thought I'd mention - we were playing around with a geiger counter at Museum of the Rockies; a friend of mine is cutting up a "Torosaurus" humerus that is pretty hot, and had to be transported to MOR from Minnesota in a Stinger Missile case.

A small baleen whale skull I'm preparing is three times higher than background, and a triceratops skull in the prep lab is about 3.5-4.5 times higher than background. Fun....

Bobby

Thanks for the post Bobby... maybe one should wear lead lined underware for protection while working around these hot fossil. wearing dosimeter can't hurt while doing prep work.

PL

[Oddball]

When we collected dinosaur bone in New Mexico, we always brought a source meter to detect the higher beta radiation concentrations associated with dinosaur bone. The isotope is decayed daughter nuclides of uranium.

The predominent bone color from this area is yellow. If you find yellow bone for sale, run a meter over it, you'll likely see the needle jump.

[pleecan]

Oddball: Thanks for reply and info. It is good the radiation is only Beta and not Gamma emitter.

PL

[Wakaritai]

Oddball: Thanks for reply and info. It is good the radiation is only Beta and not Gamma emitter.

PL

I was under the impression that it took very high energy to emit gamma radiation, not just radioactive decay at normal temps. I could be wrong, though.

[2ynpigo]

Gamma radiation will be emitted from a dino bone that contains uranium and its daughter products. Temperature doesn't matter. Google "natural radioactive decay chains" and you should find lots of information about how uranium and thorium decay into many other elements and the types of radiation that are emitted during each stage of a particular decay chain.

I wish to correct one statement made above. While it's true that technically a geiger counter can detect alpha particles, in the real world, a geiger counter (or gm counter) is a poor alpha detector. The alpha particles are shielded from the instrument by the instrument itself (and even by the alpha emitting material itself). Thus, few alpha particles actually ionize the gas within the gm tube and register as a detection. Bottom line is alpha particles are very hard to detect using a field instrument.

***********

I was under the impression that it took very high energy to emit gamma radiation, not just radioactive decay at normal temps. I could be wrong, though.

[pleecan]

Thanks for the clarification 2ynpigo.

PL

[bear-dog]

Also toss in fossils found in phosphate locations emit radon gas.If you own these in a large quanity a radon gas detector [looks like a smoke detector]should be purchased.

[pleecan]

Also toss in fossils found in phosphate locations emit radon gas.If you own these in a large quanity a radon gas detector [looks like a smoke detector]should be purchased.

Aways good to ventilate the house just by opening windows to let the good air in and exhaust the bad air out... a leaky house non air tight is a healthy home...

PL

[LeeCreek2thHntr]

I just sold a mosasaur skull the other day to a museum in New Mexico. A professor emailed us saying it was "scary" with radioactivity. He said being next to it for one hour was like smoking a pack of cigarettes for ones health. They have to have an acrylic shield to protect themselves

[2ynpigo]

Phosphate deposits tend to have a little uranium associated with them, hence the radon which is a daughter product of the radioactive decay of uranium.

Definitely a good idea to air out the house once in a while if you have lots of uranium bearing minerals/fossils.

Also toss in fossils found in phosphate locations emit radon gas.If you own these in a large quanity a radon gas detector [looks like a smoke detector]should be purchased.