Hiroshima scientists turn any smartphone into a radiation detector

8 months ago by Innerworld to c/technology

Prompt, individual-based dose assessment is essential to protect people from the negative consequences of radiation exposure after large-scale nuclear or radiological incidents. However, traditional dosimetry methods often require expensive equipment or complex laboratory analysis.
deranger 29 points 8 months ago

This costs “less than $70”.

You can get a cheap Geiger counter for $50 today and it’s about the same size. I see some for $30-40. These are based on old, proven technology, not some new thing with new unknown problems and an app.

Not that it isn’t neat, but it’s kind of a solved problem.

To put this into perspective, a 10 Gray dose to the skin is high enough to cause permanent hair loss.

A 10Gy exposure is well, well beyond hair loss range and into the fatal within days zone. The LD50 is 5Gy, LD99 is 9Gy IIRC. Methinks the author did not do their research on the topic.

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FartMaster69 16 points 8 months ago

Well, technically the hair loss is permanent if you die afterwards.

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CannonFodder 7 points 8 months ago

Yes, but a cheap Geiger counter doesn't use AI. Get with the times.

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Venator 2 points 8 months ago

Could probably make it way cheaper than $70, and might be easier to source and distribute the EBT4 film in an emergency than geiger counters.

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dukemirage 2 points 8 months ago

What’s LD50 and LD99?

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deranger 14 points 8 months ago

Other comment is wrong. LD50 = 50% chance of dying. LD99 = 99% chance of dying. The figures I listed are for humans, not mice. LD50 in mice is likely drastically different than LD50 in humans.

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MadPsyentist -11 points 8 months ago

Wow i am massivly wrong. A simple wiki search would have set me straight. Sorry all, dont listen to me. (Below is original comment, ill wear my shame on my sleeve)

~~We test on animals. Mice specifically, so we take the amount that killed the mouse and multiply by 50 to get an estimate on the Lethal Dose for humans. So i guess depending on the human the true lethal dose is going to be some where between 50 times the Lethal Dose and 99 times the Lethal Dose.

So "LD" is the amount it took to kill a mouse and 50 times that or "LD50" is the estimated lethal dose for a human~~

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deranger 13 points 8 months ago

Your entire comment is incorrect. LD50 is lethal dose to kill on average 50% of the time. LD99 is the dose that kills 99% of people. The figures I listed are for humans. There’s no way to extrapolate LD50 from other species to humans. There is enough data on humans radiation exposure to directly calculate LD50.

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01189998819991197253 11 points 8 months ago

The EBT4 film is designed to change color instantly when exposed to radiation, a change that can be detected by the naked eye.

So, why do I need your system to point a digital camera on the film, if I can see the change on the film? Seems like a solution to a problem that was already solved.

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JustinTheGM 24 points 8 months ago

It's not an "if" detector, it's a "how much" detector. It looks like it's using the LED chamber to light the film in a consistent way, and then the phone camera measures the color change to quantify how much radiation it was exposed to.

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01189998819991197253 3 points 8 months ago

Ah. I missed that. Ok, this makes total sense then. But the films activate at high doses anyway; doses you'll notice. I guess this system will be especially useful if those films ever become more sensitive.

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squaresinger 2 points 8 months ago

I guess if you want an automatic alarm, that could be useful.

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SatansMaggotyCumFart 1 point 8 months ago

They already are one though.

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