Re: radiation is radiation? lochbaum

["ruth_weiner" <ruth_weiner@email.msn.com>]

No I'm going to answer "on-list."  First, I believe you mean "radionuclides"
not "radionucleotides" -- the latter refers to radioactively labeled nucleic
acids.  Let me use an example: C-14 (a beta emitter) is present naturally.
C-14 can also be produced "artificially" by bombarding N-14 with neutrons.
The naturally occurring C-14 is in every way identical to, and
indistinguishable from, the artificially produced C-14.  Whether or not an
isotope is present in nature or is artificially produced is completely
beside the point.  Different radionuclides emit different types of radiation
at different energies, depending on their nuclear structure.  Many
radionuclides are not present in nature, but their artificiality has
essentially nothing to do with their properties.

Let me try a non-radioactive analogy: I take a medication, chemical name
sodium alendronate, to prevent osteoporosis.  This substance is not a
natural extract, but must be synthesized in the laboratory.  Some women take
estrogen compounds for the same purpose, and they work too.  sometimes these
estrogens are a natural extract, and sometimes they are synthesized.
Whether the substance is present naturally or is synthetic is irrelevant to
its function.

I might add that the irrelevance of the natural or artificial origin of a
radionuclide was glaringly obvious to me, and I have been essentially caught
off-guard by the emphasis that some people put on the distinction.

Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Norman & Karen Cohen <norco@bellatlantic.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Monday, May 08, 2000 7:14 PM
Subject: Re: radiation is radiation? lochbaum


>Vince, ( and everyone else)
>
>I'm not being thick on purpose. I seem to hear 2 messages.
>
>(



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