GGTharos Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 http://www.wise-uranium.org/ruxd.html [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Reminder: SAM = Speed Bump :D I used to play flight sims like you, but then I took a slammer to the knee - Yoda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Scythe Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 (edited) there are reports of soldiers suffering several; illness after manipulating tank armor like the one used by the M-1. Some soldiers even sleep in the same place where the armor was stored. The armor is not "stored" anywhere - it's built inside the tank. The ceramic tiles are more effective when compressed - thus the entire chobham armor package (with it's DU mesh) must always be encased in the armor of the tank to maintain a constant pressure on the ceramic components of the armor package. There have also been "reports" that people have been abducted by aliens before being set free again. That Russian guy killed with polonium ( a toxic, chemically reactive metal ) died very quickly from the alpha radiation, which as someone pointed out above may be stopped by a sheet of paper, but is strongly ionising and exceedingly dangerous once ingested, but not from heavy metal poisoning because the dose was well below the threshold for toxicity.... Depleted Uranium is a much weaker alpha emitter than the Polonium-210 used to poison Alexander Litvinenko. Polonium-210 has a half life of 138 days - in comparison, Depleted Uranium has a half life of 4.5 billion years. Thus, it's no surprise that Polonium-210 can kill a person at a concentration much less than the threshold of heavy metal toxicity. **For anyone unfamiliar with half-lives, it means if you have a sample of 100 g of Depleted Uranium, after 4.5 billion years 50 grams out of the original 100 grams of Depleted Uranium will have emitted one alpha particle, while the other 50 grams would not have emitted anything. More powerful and radioactively dangerous substances have much shorter half-lives - like Polonium-210. BTW, I'm not saying that DU is safe - far from it. But as far as being radioactively poisoned, DU is one of the least bad things to be poisoned with. Depleted Uranium is the chlamydia of radioactive substances - if you absolutely have to get a sexually transmitted disease, get chlamydia. Likewise, if someone holds you at gunpoint and forces you to eat something radioactive, sprinkle some depleted uranium in your cereal. Edited July 8, 2008 by D-Scythe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tflash Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 100% agree with D-Scythe. Take a quick look in the ISI Web of Knowledge. The consensus is the claims of a link between DU aerosol exposure and Gulf War illness are unsubstantiated. The most recent study cannot even find levels higher than natural uranium contamination. So, I guess we'ld better find other things to worry about. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nscode Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Sorry, but personally, I do not worry about DU inhaled by US soldiers, but about the one contaminating food that I eat. Never forget that World War III was not Cold for most of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tflash Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Yes, nscode, but that contamination has already been proven to be lower than the natural uranium already in the environment, even at so called "high exposure" sites. In science, we should focus on the real issues and not speculative ones. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Team Groove Posted July 8, 2008 ED Team Share Posted July 8, 2008 Agreed D-Scythe. Anyway, inhaling / eating even a "light" alpha ray emitter is very unhealthy. In case of DU aerosol it might take years to slowly poison you. Polonium-210, thats a other story. Our Forum Rules: http://forums.eagle.ru/rules.php#en Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Scythe Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 (edited) Agreed D-Scythe. Anyway, inhaling / eating even a "light" alpha ray emitter is very unhealthy. In case of DU aerosol it might take years to slowly poison you. Actually, the heavy metal toxicity of depleted uranium will do the trick and poison you immediately if you inhale depleted uranium - the same thing would happen if you inhale lead, gold, copper, zinc, etc. It should be noted that tungsten, the "alternative" to DU in military use, is also a heavy metal and will also poison you, though it doesn't have the same tendency to become aerosolized. But yes, though it would take years for the toxic radioactive effects of depleted uranium to poison you, it will only take days for the heavy metal toxicity of depleted uranium to kill you if you somehow ingest a large enough dose. Edited July 8, 2008 by D-Scythe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Scythe Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 (edited) Sorry, but personally, I do not worry about DU inhaled by US soldiers, but about the one contaminating food that I eat. Would you eat something contaminated with tungsten then? If DU usage in military weapons are banned, the next dense, heavy metal in line would be tungsten, which is by no means "safe" either. Edited July 8, 2008 by D-Scythe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nscode Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 I would rather not be shot at with anything, thank you :) Never forget that World War III was not Cold for most of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Team Groove Posted July 8, 2008 ED Team Share Posted July 8, 2008 A rather morbid question would be: Where is the "break even point" of DU amount where the heavy metal toxicology would kill you before the alpha radiation. Our Forum Rules: http://forums.eagle.ru/rules.php#en Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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