Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Bbrhuft t1_jcahqgc wrote

Reply to comment by mfb- in Radon is a monatomic gas, but its decay products are solids. After a decay, what happens to the individual atoms of the daughter elements? Do they stay suspended in the atmosphere or slowly rain out? by foodtower

Yes, Po-218, Lead-214 and Bismuth-214 are electrically charged, as a result they tend to stick to dust particles and solid surfaces that are negatively charged, a phenomena called Radon Daughter Plate Out. Indoor air contains mostly (>90%) attached progeny, stuck to dust particles. Attached (Po-218, Lead-214 and Bismuth-214) progeny are responsible for most of the radiation dose from indoor radon.

Vogiannis, E.G. and Nikolopoulos, D., 2015. Radon sources and associated risk in terms of exposure and dose. Frontiers in public health, 2, p.207.

16

kjpmi t1_jcc8aiv wrote

You can test your furnace air filter after it has been collecting dust for a while, with a Geiger counter with the right probe.
Even if you don’t have a radon problem, you will detect a slightly higher decay count compared to background.

3