Radioactivity

Eh, it could be non-radioactive next week. That's not very likely, but it could be

If you only think about half live then yes it would be radioactive forever but in reality after a long time every atom would've decayed into non radioactive elements.

You can even calculate the expected time it would take for the random process of decay to terminate.

I wonder how long it would take for the radioactivity to be indistinguishable from the atmospheric average.

Um, Chernobyl is still extremely radioactive. You probably mean the exclusion zone which is really not that bad, there's even tourists going there. But it's still not recommended to live there due to cumulative exposure.

they didn't say the book is dangerous, they said it's radioactive

Marie Curie studied radioactivity with pure and very active materials with no protection. The radioactivity of the notebook is indirect radioactivity, that is material that becomes radioactive after being exposed to powerful ionizing radiations. It must be noted that the notebook may not be deadly radioactive. And if it will be for 1500 years, it won't be deadly for 1500 years. For reference, bananas tend to be radioactive too. And you are exposed to ionizing radiations when you take the plane.

Chernobyl had two reactors burn iirc. Most of the radioactive material was in the reactor, but the fire made smoke out of radioactive materials. The quantity of smoke, in kg, that go out was significant, but it got diluted in the atmosphere and spread. Which means there wasn't so much dust, in mass, that got in any one place. The dust is also not only uranium, but a combination of uranium and materials that were contaminated like the notebook. With the rain, the dust was washed and distributed more, and with the time, materials become less and less radioactive.

Both the book and chernobyl are not dangerously radioactive. But because of the nature of radioactivity, care must always be taken.

Chernobyl was made into a TV show while this book appears to be just a book.

It isn't "safe" it's "safe enough" for limited visits to the exclusion zone and VERY limited visits to the sarcophagus that enclosed the old reactor

fun fact: the other three reactors in Chernobyl were put in operation again AFTER reactor 4 blew up
I believe the last one for 14 additional years

how safe that was is another question though

Different radioactive materials have different half-life periods.

Chernobyl isn't safe safe, it's just safe enough for wildlife to survive there, possibly with lowered life span and quality of life.

Also, there's a decent danger of radioactive dust coming off the book if it's handled. It may not be that radioactive, but if it clings to you, or you breathe it in, it will do considerably more damage than if it was all one solid rock that made geiger counters click.

The wildlife is just left alone, I wouldn't call it safe from radiation, they still have a higher incidence of mutations than animals outside the contaminated zones. It's just that some radiation and no humans, happens to be better for wildlife than no radiation and lots of humans.

I'm guessing we don't know the particulars of what radium isotope Curie was working with?

It should be noted that big chunks of radioactive materials are generally safe same with just generally high radiation under a certain threshold, we are illuminated by a big ball of fuck you radiation after all. The problem is radioactive dust and particulates, once its in your body you are fucked and its pretty random on what amount will kill you. This is what happened to those Russian dumbasses who dug trenches around Chernobyl, they breathed in radioactive dust and it wreaked havoc on their bodies. This is also one of the main reasons you wear gas masks around such things.

This veritasium video on radiation includes going into that clothing room near Chernobyl if anyone has 11 min to spare on a cool video https://youtu.be/TRL7o2kPqw0?si=QG-YMohKuLvrTCL7

Content below provided by ChatGPT.

Edit: Is the below information incorrect or y’all just have a stick up your asses over LLMs?

Marie Curie's notebooks are still radioactive due to the presence of radium-226, which has a half-life of about 1,600 years. To make her notebook non-radioactive or significantly reduce its radioactivity, the following methods could theoretically be used:

1. Chemical Removal or Neutralization:
   • Chemical Extraction: This involves using chemicals to extract the radioactive elements from the paper. This process would be complex and potentially damage the paper.
   • Neutralization: This would involve converting the radioactive materials into stable, non-radioactive elements. However, there are no practical methods currently available for neutralizing radium in situ.
2. Encapsulation:
   • Instead of making the notebook non-radioactive, it could be permanently encapsulated in a material that blocks radiation, such as lead-lined containers or specialized glass. This wouldn't make the notebook safe to handle without protection, but it would contain the radiation.
3. Decay Time:
   • Given the long half-life of radium-226, waiting for the radioactivity to decay to safe levels is impractical since it would take thousands of years for the radioactivity to diminish significantly.
4. Advanced Radiation Mitigation Techniques:
   • There are experimental methods like targeted transmutation, where the radioactive elements are bombarded with particles to induce decay into stable elements. This is highly theoretical and not feasible with current technology for something as delicate as a notebook.

Practically, due to the historical and scientific value of Marie Curie's notebooks, they are preserved and stored in controlled environments where they can be studied safely using appropriate radiation protection measures. The best approach currently is to handle and store them with care rather than attempting to decontaminate them.