Quick Facts
- The United States requires that a fifth of whisky emit at least 400 radiations every minute, or it is considered unfit for human consumption. That's because radioactivity is used as an indication that the alcohol is "natural".
- Of those killed in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks, less than 2% died of cancer induced by the radiation.
- Plutonium is a thousand times less poisonous than botulism toxin, the active ingredient in botox.
- Purified uranium is hard to get, but easy to design into a bomb. Plutonium is relatively easy to get, but hard to make into a bomb. So different kinds of nuclear bombs are difficult to make, but for different reasons. Terrorists are unlikely to be able to make one; the bigger danger is that they could buy one.
Read an Excerpt >> Radioactivity and Death
Why is radiation one of the most effective treatments for cancer? How much radiation can a human endure before getting radiation poisoning? Read the excerpt to find out.
Video
In The Classroom
Watch Professor Muller's lecture on Nukes. (Recorded on February 21, 2008, requires RealPlayer).
The complete list of Physics 10 lectures from UC Berkeley.
