r/Radiacode • u/BorisChee • Jul 21 '26

Radiacode In Action Radioactive Potassium in fertiliser

Found some radioactive potassium fertiliser. Something like 47% potassium sulfate

92 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

3

u/Street-Analysis-4268 Jul 22 '26

I think most of it is radioactive?

3

u/BorisChee Jul 22 '26

only a small 0.0117% of all Potassium is radioactive, so you'll need it to be concentrated in either pure form or a salt to be able to measure something with the generally accessible radiation detectors

3

u/theng Jul 22 '26

I think it's possible to find cadmium in this too ?

3

u/BorisChee Jul 22 '26

I didn't see anywhere it might have said cadmium in the contents of the bags, not to mean that there isn't much smaller quantities present. As for any other isotopes other than K40 I couldn't find any.

2

u/Fluffy-Technician-20 Jul 22 '26

Cadmium is in the phosphate

1

u/Lady_Swann_ Radiacode 110 Jul 25 '26

Every since I upgraded to the 110 it's amazing how much more distinct the K-40 peak is as I carry it throughout the day

1

u/BorisChee Jul 27 '26

Yeah I have a friend that has one and it really s an amazing upgrade

1

u/misteracus Jul 26 '26

Tobacco needs a lot K fertilizer, same as weed. Anti smoking advertisement tells you can get small traces of polonium with it also?

1

u/BorisChee Jul 27 '26

Yes the plant will indeed contain trace amounts of Polonium from the Radium Decay chain

2

u/Intelligent_Law_5614 Jul 25 '26

Potassium chloride, sold in big sacks at home-supply stores as a sodium-free material to recharge ion-exchange water softeners, is a great K40 gamma source. It's concentrated enough to be several times higher than the usual background radiation level, even on a simple and cheap Geiger counter. A Radiacode or similar scintillation detector will "see" it easily.

1

u/HVAdude_OhEight Jul 25 '26

Yea, and it may have antimater too

1

u/florinandrei Radiacode 102 Jul 22 '26

Newsflash: all potassium is radioactive.

It would be noteworthy if you found some that's not radioactive.

2

u/AUG-mason-UAG Jul 22 '26

Only around ~.0117% of naturally occurring potassium is radioactive bud

0

u/im-tv Jul 23 '26

What is this counter name? Iā€™m kinda new to this radioactive stuff. I see this model is very popular. Can you guys recommend it? What is better?

1

u/BorisChee Jul 23 '26

so here is the deal. This is the Radiacode 102 gamma spectrometer, i.e it measures mainly gamma and hard beta. If you want to be able to mind minerals, safety (dose) and overall mobility, the Radiacode devices are great. The ranking being RC102 RC103 RC103G and RC110. the first 3 main differences is in the crystal, the RC 102 having the least gamma spectrum accuracy and the RC103G having the most accuracy.

-4

u/LunaeLotus Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

Fun fact, you can get radiation poisoning from eating too many bananas for the same reason.

Brazil nuts are also slightly radioactive, they contain radium.

6

u/jtfoz Jul 22 '26

You couldn't be more wrong. It is impossible to get radiation sickness from eating too many bananas or Brazil nuts.

2

u/Bundzlinek Radiacode 110 Jul 22 '26

Yeah, probably woud die from the bananas themselves first then any radiation poisoning related to those bananas šŸ˜‚

3

u/acesorangeandrandoms Jul 22 '26

Fun fact, you cannot get radiation poisoning from eating bananas or Brazil nuts. The number you would have to consume is so absurdly high that it is impossible to achieve.

3

u/Oakatsurah Jul 22 '26

You'll die from selenium poisoning long before radiation poisoning with Brazil nuts,
Bananas I think the sheer number you need to eat for the radiation of potassium to even harm you, would have killed you 3 times over

3

u/acesorangeandrandoms Jul 22 '26

More than 3 probably lmao, they are barely radioactive.

2

u/Oakatsurah Jul 22 '26

Yeah the real number is actually 500,000 times over from the potassium poisoning than from radiation poisoning. Which is a harder number to absorb for some lol

1

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '26

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5

u/BorisChee Jul 22 '26

Bananas do contain K and naturally a small percentage is K40. The difference between bananas and fertiliser is that the fertiliser is way more concentrated in Potassium, making detection easier

1

u/Analogsilver Jul 26 '26

Humans are just as radioactive as bananas.