Why are Smoke Detectors Radioactive? And How do Smoke Detectors Work?
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
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You probably have a few smoke detectors throughout your house, but did you know that many designs of smoke detectors are radioactive? Well in this video we explore how smoke detectors work, and how they use the radioactive isotope Americium-241 to detect smoke. We'll also explore how Geiger counters work, and then how atoms of high atomic numbers are counterintuitively small. Smoke detectors are perfectly safe, and save lives. So make sure that they work on a regular basis.
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Table of Contents:
00:00 - Introduction to Smoke Detectors.
00:42 - Components inside a Smoke Detector.
02:26 - How does a radioactive isotope detect smoke?
07:24 - What are the types of radiation?
08:42 - Why is Americium radioactive?
10:05 - How is Americium produced.
11:00 - Other types of smoke detectors.
12:00 - Notes on Smoke Detectors.
13:03 - PCBWay Sponsorship.
14:30 - The Counterintuitive size of atoms.
17:08 - How do Geiger Counters Work?
Key Branches from this video are: How does a Computer Mouse Work?
Erratum:
at 9min15sec - We talked about the strong nuclear force holding together the nucleus, which is accurate. However radioactive decay is a result of the weak nuclear force, which wasn't mentioned.
Note:
We recommend not taking apart the inside of a smoke detector. It is such a small amount of Americium, but if mishandled it can result in illness.
Animation: Mike Radjabov
Script, Modeling: Teddy Tablante
Twitter: @teddytablante
Modeling: Prakash Kakadiya
Voice Over: Phil Lee
Sound Design: Luis Huesca
Animation built using Blender 3.2 www.blender.org/
Image Credit:
Cloud Chamber of Am-241 - Kebukawan on commons.wikimedia.org.
References:
Background on Smoke Detectors www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-co...
How do Smoke Detectors Work? home.howstuffworks.com/home-i...
Ionization Detectors circuitcellar.com/wp-content/...
Ionization vs Photoelectric www.nfpa.org/Public-Education...
Smoke Detector Circuit www.electroschematics.com/smo...
Wikipedia contributors. "Alpha Particle". "Americium-241". "Cloud Chamber". "Radioactive Decay". "Smoke Detector" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Visited September 2022
#SmokeDetector #Radioactive #HowStuffWorks
I like that you coherently used physically accurate electron orbitals. Not just spheres, but actual nested shapes.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who appreciated that!!
Why air purifier doesn't use americium and none radioactive. Different tech, same function??
@@maemilev Smoke detectors need to detect a specific type of gas (CO2), so that it doesn't go off all the time with literally any gas in the air like O2 , NO2 etc.
It's interesting that Geiger counters are sort of the inverse of smoke detectors. With smoke detectors, you have radiation and look for a gas, while with Geiger counters, you have a gas and look for radiation.
Well, this guy summarize it pretty well!
Makes sense
Science rules!!
As an engineering student who took up engineering for the love of physics and mathematics (partly inspired by great content on RUclips, this channel included), I really appreciate you trying to deep dive into stuff no one bothers to know! A humble smoke detector has so much going on behind the scenes. Keep inspiring new people :)
what engineering did you course? these videos really interest me, and your interest makes me curious
I love how educational this is, and the animations help so much it's unreal. Thank you!
The animation is really well done and super helpful 💯
I greatly enjoyed the humorous bits: “The battery, which is always dead”, “When burnt pop corn…”, “…indicating that you are bad at cooking”. Hahaha.
I was once called to assist with a fire detection system used in a diesel engine generator room. The 'authorities' wanted to test the system, so they set fire to a large pan filled with diesel fuel. The whole room was filled with smoke, but no alarms sounded.
At this stage I entered the scene - I started the fan and got the 'diesel smoke' out. Then I got a cigarette from one of the engineers - lit it - and blew smoke into the fire detectors - all worked fine - the alarm sounded every time.
Why you may ask. Smoke from burning fuel is (very) dark/black - and black does not reflect light - the cigarette smoke is 'white' - which reflects lights. Wisdom: look at what kind of smoke a fire will generate - the select the type of detector.
THIS
Well rare to see, I believe industrial fire prevention systems should use multiple detection methods just for this purpose.
Ionisation : for rapidily flaming fire
Photoelectric/photo optical : slow/smouldering fires ..
something my physics teacher tried to explain but screwed up 😂
Teachers are so last century. RUclips content is usually far better and way easier to understand.
@@MattyEngland not only RUclips, but online content in general, whether it's typed or videoed. Schooling as a whole is outdated. We need to recognize that schooling is only required to become literate. Once a student is literate to a sufficient degree, they can learn without a local-area teacher, instead they can learn by reading the material (textbook) of an internationally acclaimed teacher, or read and watch online material (usually free). The era of universities is hopefully coming to an end
true. once the video said Americium moves as fast as 419,000 cheetahs. I totally understand
Same 😅 I tried my best to understand what she was tellin but couldn't
Ahhaahhhahahahaha lol
I can't get enough of your videos! They are the best! The time spent on animation is amazing! Keep up the great work guys! You have many fans!
I can't express enough how much i am pleased with this video. And i love how you branched in a clever way to explain other relevant topics besides the mechanism of smoke detector and the incorporation of this mind blowing information about the sizes of atoms and the power they possess it's just amazing. The animation also is brilliant. I will always follow this channel and i hope you always upload videos like this without skipping any bits of information, the more dense the better :)
I cannot express how valuable this video is. I'm 64 and very curious, this video answered many of my question about atoms and some I never new to ask. Even your (add) was related to your video. The animation showing the various sizes of atoms overlaid on the periodic table was brilliant.
I've wondered how these 2 devices work since i was a teen . My degrees in electronics and electrical never explained it , now you did. Thanks
13:52 The dollar sign being on the wrong side is the biggest draw back I noticed in this video. The animation and narration is great. The sponsor commercial integrates well and feels like it belongs in the video. Well done.
Just amazing work, simple to understand explanation, wonderfully made animations , Thank you to entire team for bringing such an amazing videos to us. 🌹👍
I’m a Fire protection electrician in Australia and we don’t use ionisation detectors at all these days, it’s all photoelectric.
So? The Chinese are taking your country over, what do you expect
I love this! it's not too simplified and not too much detail, it's perfect!
So much information beyond the simple explanation. Love how in-depth you go. Also, how long did it take for someone to make this? So much knowledge needed to make something so "simple".
Recently discovered your channel and am blown away by the way you explain complex topics with quality and clarity.
This is very well put together. Amazing explanation & animation in demonstration. Thank for putting this together to share. Your content is top notch.
I wish my lessons in school were like this, I would have learned much much more, thanks for your informative and intresting videos, keep up the good work.
You are the one defining Education through Animations. Your animations are the most realistic and detailed. I am so glad that you do what you do.
This definitely had way more information needed to understand how ionizing smoke detectors work. But still loved it
Unbelievable quality video. All your videos are so incredibly educational, I love watching your channel for hours on end. I often find myself revisiting your videos just to try and wrap my brain around the concepts you explain.
I love this video, the visual explanation is amazing the detail that your team must go through to gather as this information then sort it in a way so that most people can understand and to then make an animation for that then to synchronize everything is incredible truly making the world a better place. I also love the jokes that were put in and side mention of how it’s marketed effectively as it is both funny and still educational
Thanks, I’m an x radiation worker (meaning I’m retired not dead) and always look for incorrect information in such vids. Yours was spot on and well worth refreshing smoke detectors. I think your conclusion re danger of alpha v gamma needs more explanation ie that tiny alpha emitter would destroy your inside pretty quick, BUT a dose of a few hundred micro sieverts for several minutes would most likely cause no issue, tho NOT recommended either. Thanks again
Gamma radiation is the real nasty barstood 😅
That was a very excellent demonstration & explanation of the smoke detectors not only at the hardware level, but it was also interesting at fundamental level, I totally appreciate your work and efforts to create this video.
Small thing but so much engineering going into it.. great explanation as always
I love the subtle humor.
Well research, paced, and emotionally stable video. I love the smattering of humour to maintain interest. I learned a lot here. Thank you
Great video! Reminds me of a neighbor who used this as a timer to remind her when her food was ready. Everyday for years.
Your content is amazing! One of the best parts of existing now is our unfathomable access to knowledge, and you work so hard to share such high quality educational information, it's an honor to learn from you. Thanks for all your channel does, it makes my life much better.
This channel should have millions of subscribers. The content is amazingly well done
7:25 "...Or you're bad at cooking" that made me laugh my ass off
>that slight sass on the annoying beeping
>and the always dead batteries
>and on terrible cooking and burnt popcorn
>recently had to buy a smoke detector
Did our esteemed teacher had one too many cooking accidents? The answer may surprise you!
Jokes aside, once again you managed to make another excellent video sir. One of the best channels on RUclips. You deserve every sub and far more so.
Your pronounciating skill is absolutely superb 😍 what a clear cut explanation sir
Well done it
This channel is truly a teasure ! Can't wait to learn more. Good job !
Very well explained sir
Wow. Super cool video. The animations, the imformation.. brilliant!
Thanks for showing where to find the isotope. Now, I'm off to build myself my first homemade reactor to help for this winter. Free energy!
Thanks to Branch Education and Everyone who supported B - Education for letting us to learn what we want but we can't. ❤️❤️
This is the best science channel available on RUclips!
"Or u r bad at cooking" damn bro went straight to the point
I like the way you showed the sub-orbitals of atoms and pretty accurate structure.
these animations and models are the best for visualizing the activity of the topic, thank you, 😍 amazing quality
1:22: 🔍 Smoke detectors use radioactive decay to detect smoke and have a metal cylinder containing americium-241.
3:32: 🔬 Alpha particles from the americium-241 source in the smoke detector ionize the atmosphere, creating charged ions and electrons.
7:14: 🔥 Smoke detectors use alpha particles to detect fires and ionized air molecules to prevent current flow.
10:28: 🔍 Smoke detectors use ionizing or photoelectric sensors to detect smoke particles and save lives.
13:32: 🔬 Atoms with higher atomic numbers can be smaller than atoms with lower atomic numbers due to the attractive force between protons and electrons.
16:54: 🔬 This video discusses the atomic radius of an element, the functioning of Geiger Counters, and the importance of engineering education.
Recap by Tammy AI
EXCELLENT VIDEO, GRAPHICS, SCRIPT - THANKS
JR
Education to the people!
Fantastic videos and I love the trivia at the end of the videos. "Some companies have the thing something thingy flipped" lol, love it.
According to my using experience on both of them, the radiation type smoke detector lasts very long, over 20 years without trouble, but it only able to detect smoke ! The laser beam type detector triggers the alarm even with steam or oil vapour during cooking that I do not like if it is installed in kitchen area close to stove. It is much more expensive as compare to the simple radiation type. Not like the radiation type runs with 9V, it requires both batteries and AC power that is not so simple to install and runs it. It starts has trouble after two years like sounding alarm by itself without detecting any smoke or any vapours. I repaired them by cleaning the laser chamber where I saw very few and fine dust accumulate inside, but some still fault alarm after cleaning.
Thank you so much, Sir. I use your channel to teach kids and students. Your explanation are excellent and crystal clear!
Your animations are absolutely awesome. I really enjoy watching your videos. They are informative and easy to understand. Thank you for your great work.
Kênh này hay , giải thích mô tả bằng hình ảnh rất dễ hiểu. Thời gian đủ dài để nắm bắt kiến thức.
This channel’s videos is one of reason that why i’m learning English.
Thank you for teaching me how the world works.
All the videos from this channel really amaze me. Such a high quality content. Thank you very much.
Beautiful illustration and explanation of smoke detectors
As always Branch Education has produced a brilliant piece of work. A massive kudos to everyone who was involved in the process.
I'd like to suggest a topic that you guys could add to your video list:
The all new H2 chip and the transparency mode that is featured in the Airpods Pro 2.
So, yeah.
Thank you
Thank you for going to depth. The great amount of details are welcome.
Thanks so much for this great video with easy but technical understanding. Great professional voice and clarity as well.
Excellent demonstration 👌
although i couldn't understand but i liked your field of study
A person with a soothing voice, funny jokes, informational information, and 3d models.
what more could I ask for? subscribed!
Superb quality and lovely voice. Many thanks
The American company that I'm working in does also sell the smoke dectector all around world. Though I'm for other product function, it's good to know how the dectector is working. Thanks and your posted video explains so clearly.❤
By far the best education channel I've come across
Thank you so much for illustrating the mind-blowing and amazing technology behind the Startlink satellites.
Are you a bot
The illustrations & explanation were so well done! The atom size section somewhat flew over my head but I'm sure it'll be helpful for others.
Now I'm left curious how CO2 detectors/alarms work.
playing multiplayer online games with voice chat there is almost always someone with that smoke detector low battery chip noise going off every few seconds. its just amazing how many people live with that chirp when its such an easy fix that could even save a life. thanks for the video duder.
In the same way people become accustomed to smells in their homes, people become accustomed to noise in their home as well. Eventually, your brain just tells you it's normal, and you tune it out. They're not necessarily dumb. They've just let it beep so long they don't even hear it anymore, and then they forget completely to change the battery.
I can't stop myself from liking any of your video after watching it.
Sir can you please be frequent...
I have watched all of your fantastic videos, but in jan 2022, today after 10 months when your video was recommended i recalled you after much time. We await your video so far a lot....
Here after expecting atleast 1 video in a month
☺️☺️☺️
We appreciate your creation of such videos which increase our knowledge and light up our minds
Applaud 👏 to the animation department ❤
Thanks for this video. Very interesting and helpful!
learning has never been so beautiful. Thanks!
Technically, what is talked about, is a smoke alarm. A smoke detector works on the same/similar principles, but is connected to a central fire panel.
Ionisation smoke alarms got banned in some states over 10 years ago in Australia, but I do know that they are still available here.
College style lectures that everyone can understand … you sir , should be the benchmark for education
It took me until almost the end of the video to realize you were showing atoms with electron clouds as opposed to orbits. I'm glad we're starting to move away from teaching that model and appreciate you contributing to that movement.
Couple things:
First & foremost, not all smoke detectors contain radiation: only ionization ones do, it's just that they're the most common. Photoelectric smoke detectors don't contain radiation, & many people fail to mention that this type even exists (let alone explain how they work). Congrats to you for doing both of the latter things.
Nice job on that _extremely_ accurate Kidde i9040 model! (at least if you made it, even if on the real thing the "LED tube" is clear instead of red).
0:46 A lot of smoke detectors _do_ have only a battery for power like that one, but just as many can also take 120VAC as a power source (with a backup battery in case the power fails too of course).
0:58 Smoke detectors don't sound like that anymore, only older ones do; modern ones produce a pattern known as "temporal 3": 3 beeps, pause, 3 beeps, pause, etc. In addition a "chirp" is not that long: it's just what it sounds like, a chirp, like that a bird would make.
1:09 You say _"few_ basic components", but it all depends on the design & complexity of the unit (& how many features it has).
1:47 It's "Am-ma-ree-cee-um", not "Ameri-cee-um".
1:49 I'm not sure I've ever seen a smoke detector or a consumer box with that symbol, though it might be on bulk boxes of detectors. Also while disassembling a smoke detector is indeed not recommended for several reasons, there's not enough Americium 241 present to hurt you (though as the narrator says directly exposing yourself to it in any way is also not recommended).
4:48 Yeah, even if they _are_ radioactive.
5:04 Yes, though in general it's known as a "detection chamber" regardless of detector type.
6:42 Like hydrogen cyanide? (which I believe is often produced by fires, & can in itself be deadly)
6:49 The _particles generated by_ burning popcorn, not the popcorn itself because that just wouldn't make sense.
8:32 Nice grammar.
10:08 That _is_ interesting! I never thought about where that type of detector got what makes it tick. Neat how a substance that would probably be considered waste in the nuclear power process can actually be used for something! One person's trash is another person's treasure like they say!
11:45 Yep, including what kinds of fire each is best at detecting (sadly most home fires are the kind that ionization detectors, the type most commonly installed, can't detect)
11:47 _"Ionization",_ not _"Ionizing"._
12:10 Hopefully most people should have enough common sense to _not_ do that.
12:19 Really? I had no idea it worked like that!
Fun Fact: some _very_ early ionization smoke detectors actually used another form of radiation called "Radium-226".
Are you sure that a smoke alarm contains such a small amount of Americium that it won’t hurt you? I’m asking cause my 6 year old son opened an alarm not long ago cause he wanted to see how it worked and I’m a bit concerned
@@kingelvis4688 Yes: most only use around 1 microcurie of Americium 241; this is nowhere near enough what's necessary to harm people. It's still not a good idea to open the detection chamber of an ionization smoke detector (as this exposes you directly to the radiation) or come into contact with the Americium in any way though.
Wow, it is becoming annoying how good your content is. Keep it up
I come to these videos for the content, but I just wanted to give a shout out to Phil Lee for his incredibly good voiceover work. What a soothing voice this guy has.
Thank you very much for the video!. Regards from México!.
I love how its explained,
Subscribed 😁
Ever heard the story of the kid that built a small reactor in his shed from a bunch of smoke detectors? He went crazy eventually and got radiation poisoning but he actually made a working small reactor
Yeah I've heard of that story, he actually never made a nuclear reactor or even got radiation poisoning though, he just built a makeshift neutron source.
Thank you for this super super informative video! Very well made!
great voice for a great animation
Keep doing this channel! Super interesting and very well made
how does this man manage to keep my attention
i have severe adhd so i get distracted VERY easily and i also have a snall attention span
Because you might be passionate and/or interested in one of the subjects here!
Sometimes your passion chooses YOU
Congratulations from Ecuador 😊
thank you for the info
Thank you for mentioning Geiger counter. I learnt a new thing
Don't even know how to say how brilliant this video is! Thanks for another knowledge masterpiece, thank you BE!!! The battery joke 😂😂
with this dude i understand chemics
Exceptional work. Thank you!
The genius part of this "ionizing detector" is that it occludes the fact that it is in-fact the radiation everyone is "afraid" of when you say radioactive... but then there is ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation! Out if which the first one is in-fact the harmful one :D
The immense attraction of one gram of pure protons to one gram of pure electrons looks like an engineering potential for future machines waiting to be exploited.
A dating machine for particle man.
It's nuclear fission.
Excellent Explanation .
Great video and animation
Would be nice to see a video on different geiger counters for beta and gamma and alpha radiations
Great video! Very interesting and informative, thank you for this!
Awesome informative video! Thank you for posting it.
Good lord! For someone who at the beginning of the video professed they didn't know why the smoke detector was radioactive, you suddenly seemed to have an extreme understanding of how and why they worked they way they did.
You have already taught me more that the entire education system of my country, I hope this humble wordrs means something, alll that I can do right now is no more than thank, from my soul, to you, and tomorrow, when all of this knowledge pays off, I'll thank you in the proper way, even then Im sure I'll not feel will be enough greatfull for all the knowledge this channel give to me, thank you, sir, you deserve the best this human global society could ever give to you.
hey you do not pulish often, but when you do your videos are soo brilliant and packed full of information that is so damn cool.
you even break it down to the principles and at the end you add additional information, very good narrative and visualisation.
Besides the rich amount of knowledge of your videos you also help me sleep everyday. Thank you man
This is a VERY prolific voice actor.