Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Ice Pick Headache

Question:
The other day I search under my bed directly 5 below my pillow is a 1980s smoke detector place their since 2002 of Dec. Would I develop a malignant brain tumor since I noticed an ice pick headache on the left back of the head? I've heard of people having stroke due to radiation exposure. Is that true?

Answer:
Was there a battery in it? I wouldn't worry too much. If there was radiation in it it's not much. I checked the internet for more information. Sorry about the ice pick headache. How much radiation is in smoke detectors? The radiation source in an ionization chamber detector is a very small disc, about 3 to 5 millimeters in diameter, weighing about 0.5 gram. It is a composite of americium-241 in a gold matrix. The average activity in a smoke detector source is about one microcurie, 1 millionth of a curie. Americium emits alpha particles and low energy gamma rays. It has a half-life of about 432 years. The long half-life means that americium decays very slowly, emitting very little radiation. At the end of the 10 year useful life of the smoke detector, it retains essentially all its original activity. How much radiation exposure will I get from a smoke detector? As long as the radiation source stays in the detector, exposures would be negligible (less than about 1/100 of a millirem per year), since alpha particles cannot travel very far or penetrate even a single sheet of paper, and the gamma rays emitted by americium are relatively weak. If the source were removed, it would be very easy for a small child to swallow, but even then exposures would be very low because the source would pass through the body fairly rapidly (by contrast, the same amount of americium in a loose powdered form would give a significant dose if swallowed or inhaled). Still, its not a good idea to separate the source from the detector apparatus.