Was Snowfall in Arkansas Radioactive?
By: Jocelyn Tovar, KARK 4 News
Updated: January 26, 2013
His video has already been viewed more than 50,000 times, but is it accurate?
Daren Foraday keeps a geiger counter because of his life-long interest in science.
He took it out during the last snowstorm and said it showed the snow that fell was radioactive.
He then uploaded the video of his amateur experiment to YouTube.
"And the video just kind of exploded!" Foraday said.
UALR chemistry professor, Dr. Jeff Gaffney, is well aware of this phenomena.
"We monitor this stuff all the time," he said, adding that there are levels of radioactivity all around us, in everything from bananas to our bones and that there are even radioactive particles in our atmosphere.
"And they attach to aerosol particles which come down in rainfall and snow and all sorts of stuff," he said.
Typically, at levels that aren't harmful, "Until you get to tens of thousands of counts I'd stop worrying about it," he said.
Foraday said he's only seen the levels reach as high as 246 and added experts can't gauge what is a safe level of radiation for each individual.
"I personally don't think kids should be playing in snow or eating it especially," he said.
It's something he hopes others will think about during the next 'snow day'.
Dr. Gaffney also said the Public Health Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, even the Department of Energy, are all monitoring the radiation levels around us.
Daren Foraday keeps a geiger counter because of his life-long interest in science.
He took it out during the last snowstorm and said it showed the snow that fell was radioactive.
He then uploaded the video of his amateur experiment to YouTube.
"And the video just kind of exploded!" Foraday said.
UALR chemistry professor, Dr. Jeff Gaffney, is well aware of this phenomena.
"We monitor this stuff all the time," he said, adding that there are levels of radioactivity all around us, in everything from bananas to our bones and that there are even radioactive particles in our atmosphere.
"And they attach to aerosol particles which come down in rainfall and snow and all sorts of stuff," he said.
Typically, at levels that aren't harmful, "Until you get to tens of thousands of counts I'd stop worrying about it," he said.
Foraday said he's only seen the levels reach as high as 246 and added experts can't gauge what is a safe level of radiation for each individual.
"I personally don't think kids should be playing in snow or eating it especially," he said.
It's something he hopes others will think about during the next 'snow day'.
Dr. Gaffney also said the Public Health Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, even the Department of Energy, are all monitoring the radiation levels around us.
Comments
Wasn't there an old joke about "don't eat yellow snow..."? Must be a slow news night.
Peter D.
January 25, 2013 at 9:57 pm
