In article , Thomas Haegin <haegint@xxxxxxxxx> writes
Hi Mark,
thanks for that info! This whole issue of radioactive
glass in camera lenses is something I have never heard
of before
Not only used on camera lenses, but some coatings use thorium compounds
which are also radioactive. I don't believe this coating material was
ever used by Olympus though, but it caused a radiation alert when a
colleague dropped a power connector onto a thorium coated optical window
of a sensor system at work a few years ago.
The danger with the solution proposed earlier in the thread, Brian
Ayling's repair tip, is that both glass and coating are strong alpha
emitters. That is fine if the glass and coating remain intact because,
as any 20th century schoolboy knows, alpha radiation will not penetrate
your skin and is stopped by even a single sheet of paper. Since your
outer layer of your skin is dead cells, there is no danger from it
absorbing any amount of alpha radiation.
However, if the glass or coating is fragmented and even a single
fragment ingested (take a look at how much fine powder is produced on
image 3 again) then the alpha emission can be absorbed by living cells
resulting in carcinogenic mutations. In an ingestible form, alpha
emitters are the single most dangerous radioactive substances.
Worryingly, Brian has what appears to be a vegetable patch only a few
feet from what is now radioactively contaminated ground - and I bet he
even uses his grass cuttings as a mulch! I wonder how many symptoms of
leukaemia he, or his family, is suffering from now.
I accept that the site is intended as a joke but this is no laughing
matter and could easily encourage others to follow suit with supposedly
worthless irreparable optics. Please DO NOT be tempted to reproduce the
irresponsible humour of Brian Aylings site with any lens, whether OM or
trash!
**** NEVER DAMAGE A RADIOACTIVE GLASS ELEMENT ****
--
Kennedy
Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed;
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed.
Python Philosophers
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