AW: Missing Exit Signs

["Franz Schoenhofer" <franz.schoenhofer@CHELLO.AT>]

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----

Von: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]Im Auftrag von Bernard L.

Cohen

Gesendet: Donnerstag, 11. März 2004 22:22

An: Carol Marcus

Cc: jjcohen; Williamson, Matthew/Medical Physics; Radsafe

Betreff: Re: Missing Exit Signs





    There was an example of this at Oak Ridge National Lab in 1950 or

1951 when Tom Blewitt inhaled so much tritium that his voice went high

-- he became a soprano. The medics told him to tank up on beer and he

did so. It was a pleasant experience for him and there were no

repercussions.



------------------------------------------------------------------



Bernard,



This is a nice story - but it is nothing but a story.



The tone pitch of a voice depends among many other factors on the acoustic

features of the medium through which it is transported. A few decades ago I

experienced this myself when I inhaled helium and spoke - it was not really

soprano, but resembled more "Donald Duck".



So, if Tom Blewitt's voice went high, it was not because of the radioactive

properties of the gas he inhaled, but because of the cited properties of

hydrogen. If he had inhaled pure tritium-gas, he should have been worried,

because it is known from literature, that at least one person died from an

overexposure to tritium-gas.



I add, that the helium effect lasted for a few (tens of) seconds, because

after exhalation normal air was breathed again.



The "remedy" beer is correct for tritium intakes and officially

acknowledged.



Best regards,



Franz







************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To

unsubscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the

text "unsubscribe radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail,

with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/