It’s widely known that a smoke detector is a good ionizing radiation source, as they contain a small amount of americium-241, a side product of nuclear reactors. But what about other sources?

The first is the ionization type. Ionization smoke alarms have a small amount of radioactive material that ionizes the air and creates a flow of electricity between two oppositely charged plates.

Hahn learned that a small amount of a radioactive isotope could be found in smoke detectors during his experiments in the 1990s, according to a 1998 article in Harper's Magazine that later ...

Ionizing smoke detectors use a neat bit of science to detect the smoke. Inside they have two parallel metal plates, with a very small amount of a radioactive element source on one plate.

Most concerning are ionizing smoke detectors, which contain radioactive material. Although the radioactive material is securely contained in a metal chamber within the device housing and is ...

A regular old-school smoke detector, or an ionization-type smoke alarm, contains a small amount of radioactive material between two electrically charged plates. The air within becomes iodized ...

The concern behind simply tossing out old smoke detectors is that radioactive material, which is used in one of the two most common types of detectors, can wind up contaminating the environment.

although in the past 'products containing plutonium' have been sold. In the 1960s, the first commercial smoke detectors were sold in the Soviet Union. Smoke detectors at the time, including those ...

Photoelectric smoke detectors use LED light ... They have a small amount of radioactive material between two electrically charged plates. This ionizes the air and causes a current to flow ...

Photoelectric smoke detectors use LED light ... They have a small amount of radioactive material between two electrically charged plates. This ionizes the air and causes a current to flow ...