WEBVTT - Atomic Bomb Parties and Nuclear Fallout 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.800 Works dot com. Hey, welcome the Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.160 My name is Robert Lamb. I'm Julie Douglas. And you know, Julie, 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:19.360 if we we travel back in time here and go 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:26.000 back to early nineteen Las Vegas, Okay, totally different world, 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:30.479 of course. All right, I'm getting my martini stirred right now. Yeah, yeah, 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:35.560 Martini's mobsters running the place. Uh. You know, it's the 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:40.360 the the age of you know, of black suits and 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:44.720 smoking everywhere and uh uh and and you know, everybody 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.560 was caught up in this this cold war feeling that 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.960 it's you know, arms arms race is post War War two. 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:53.640 US is a big dog and and it's uh and 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.680 it's up against some pretty stiff competition on the other 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.240 side of the globe and U and these you know 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:01.920 war of idea, the cheese. But also you know, lots 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.080 of good times and casinos, drinking martinis and smoking NonStop. 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.039 And what would you add to that experience just to 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:12.800 make it even more fantastic, Well, basically, you throw the 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.039 ultimate party. I mean, you've got the mafia here, so 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.000 we gotta go high, we gotta go big. Yeah, ultimate 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:22.200 party thrown by the mafia with all of your you know, um, 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:23.560 you know, whatever kind of music they had back in 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:25.240 the day. I don't know if there wasn't electronics, I 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.720 don't know. I just see like awkward, like um, shifting 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.160 to the right and left with the hips, you know. Yeah, 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:33.240 that that kind of dancing. I don't know. I'm sure 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:35.880 there's a name for that. Yeah, early early nineteen fifty stuff. 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.880 But you're staying up all night, staying up all night, partying, 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:44.000 doing that weird dance, drinking m d drinking those weird drinks. Yeah, 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:48.919 smoking NonStop, and then right around dawn, an atomic weapon 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:53.960 goes off on the horizon for your pleasure, for your pleasure. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:58.680 a a nuclear explosion, and everybody you know cheers, you 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.280 know USA at drink a little more, smoke a little more, 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:03.680 party a little more, and then I guess you have 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:06.040 you have brunch and then go home and go to sleep. 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.040 This is not fiction. This this this was happening for 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:14.080 twelve years, for twelve years and something in the neighborhood 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:18.679 of Oh. I mean these parties ended, you know after 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:24.480 a while, but um, you know, in between nine um, 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:28.240 one thousand and twenty one nuclear detonations took place at 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:33.519 the Nevada test site. So a lot of these are again, 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.720 these are nuclear weapons. These are atomic bombs, the most 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.960 powerful and dreaded uh weapon that we've been able to 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.560 come up with yet. And you know, we'd previously dropped 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:47.919 them to horrific results um in Japan on the Hiroshima 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.440 and Nagasaki that was a like a third team kill 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:52.920 a ton and a twenty kill a ton bomb. But 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.560 then they're like the the like some of the first 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.600 ones we were dropping in a lot in just outside 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.960 of Las Vegas at the Nevada Proving Grounds were thirty 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.600 one kiloton bombs, right and and and you wonder if 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.560 anybody's such m hmm, I wonder if this is a 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:09.639 good idea. Well apparently you had some people that were like, 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.520 I don't know if we should should maybe maybe it's 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:14.280 just a good idea. I don't But then but then 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:16.160 the government was like, well, we're doing in two weeks, 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:19.000 so make up your mind, uh, and know that it's 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.240 an extremely patriotic thing for us to do. It's perfectly 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.639 safe and uh, you know, so just you know, drinking 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:27.040 Marquis Martiniz and keep smoking. The cigarettes are not going 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:28.880 to kill you. And then I imagine them murmuring the 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:33.440 side effects like sun effects include vomiting, headics, you know, 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.080 and I want to stay forth so there. Yeah, so 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.640 people are, you know, having their martinis and going, well, okay, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:39.600 maybe it's not such a bad idea. It will bring 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.600 a lot of money into the area and we really 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.920 need it. And the parties actually remind me. I've never 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:47.560 been to one of these because I'm not that cool. 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.400 But uh, like in places like Ibiza, they have like 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:54.600 these parties where people party all night somehow, um and uh, 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.680 perhaps through a natural means. And then when the sun 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:00.520 comes up, like the DJ does like a a special 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.840 mix so that his mix corresponds with the rising of 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:06.760 the sun. Of course, they didn't have DJs back then, 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.160 so weren't able to really get that that the same 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.640 effect with the to correspond with the detonation. I'm sure 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.200 Frank Sinatra probably did some little ditty DJ Frank Sinatra 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.200 pick the old days. Um. But but this is just 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.640 part of like like Vegas was crazy with it. Like 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.440 Vegas was ready to run with anything that would come 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.520 along that they could market. So they're like, uh, They're like, oh, 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.440 Atomic Bomble were the Atomic City. Wait, and you know 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.599 they the Atomic Cocktail became big, which, according to Esquire magazine, 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.920 is one and half ounces of vodka, one and half 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:39.440 ounces of brandy, a teaspoon and sherry, and one and 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.919 a half ounces of dry champagne. My favorite UM was 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:47.159 a still from that time of Miss Atomic Usa, I believe, 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:52.159 and she's um, it just imagined an atomic plume. Yeah, 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:54.800 the mushroom cloud. The mushroom cloud that is the actual 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.680 like her her outfit, right, and it almost looks like 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.520 it's a sandwich board. Maybe. Yeah, it's hard to say 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.320 exactly what it is, um, but she she's made to 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:06.320 look naked behind this atomic plume and she's you know, 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:10.839 this um belonde with this big bouffant out in the 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.200 desert with clouds behind her. It's pretty great. And I 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.039 think the show girls would have head dresses. It looked 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:19.279 like mushroom cloud. Um. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:23.760 issued a calendar for tourists with the scheduled detonation times 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.919 and the best places to view them. Right for this 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.880 twelve years, right, Yeah, for twelve years. People would like 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.920 the desert end marketed at Skyroom. It's the perfect place 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.800 to you know, guzzle down some martinis and smoke and 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.479 watch a bomb light up the horizon. Um. Yeah, but 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:44.320 of course the good times had to end, and they 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.200 because you know, people in northeastern Nevada in southern Utah 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.799 began complaining that their pets in their livestocks were suffering 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:57.120 from beta particle burns. This is from a PBS documentary 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:01.600 about the Strange Side of Las Vegas, and they suffered 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:05.200 other ailments. So by nine three, the limited test band 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.240 was in effect and effectively that just shut down all 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.200 above grown tests, which it was not a bad thing 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.359 to do, as as exciting as these u little parties were. 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:17.760 It's sort of horrific now thinking back now knowing what 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.480 we know. Yeah, it's kind of like if you if 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.360 you are or if you know somebody who's ever had 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:27.000 like that crazy boyfriend or girlfriend and at the time 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:28.760 they're like, this person is awesome. I want to spend 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:30.479 the rest of my life with this person. And then 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.960 and then later they looked back, and then they look 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.200 back and they're like, Wow, that person was crazy. What 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.599 was I thinking? That was? That was? That was dumb? 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:43.040 And you know, so the behindsight is sort of so 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:45.120 you know, it's easy to look back now and say, wow, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:49.440 these people were stupid throwing parties and watching a nuclear 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:52.360 weapon light up the horizon. But but like I said, 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.840 they were caught up in in patriotism. They didn't know 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.120 what the effects were, and I guess they didn't, you know, 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:01.480 really heed the whole uh anal I have become death 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.000 at a story of world type thing. You know, they 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.919 know it was this shiny atomic age, right, yeah, I 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:10.200 mean it was it was just all new and exciting, 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.440 new frontier. But you know there's there's the dark side 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:20.120 of course, so so yeah, there's where the music doesn't right, Yeah, 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.920 that's the record scratching another detail reference. N This is 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:28.440 we're of course talking about nuclear fallout, and I think 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.880 everyone is at least familiar with the idea of nuclear 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.040 fallout in the in the sense that it's it's just 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.880 become part of our our language. And you talk about 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:42.840 the fall out of something about the uncomfortable or terrible 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:48.000 um circumstances that can occur after an event has transpired, right, 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.800 and of course especially after Japan, which is it's been 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:56.440 a horrific event, um and it's been really heartbreaking, UM, 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:59.400 and it's sad, but it's it's interesting to look at 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.760 fallout and see how that's affected people, and also to 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:07.320 try to understand UM Japan in the context of Chernobyl 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:10.680 and see if we've learned anything. UM. So you know, 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.000 we should probably talk a little bit about thought exactly 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:15.560 what it is and what that mushroom cloud is doing. Yeah. 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.440 So yeah, this is what happens in a nuclear explosion. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.360 Just very briefly. You have a certain abount amount of 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:26.440 nuclear mass, and we transfer that nuclear mass into energy. Right, 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:30.320 So you have an explosion, an enormous fireball, and inside 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:35.360 that firebell everything is vaporized, and this fireball rises rapidly, uh, 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.120 and it it ends up pulling in soil and water 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:42.760 and then expands and cools and loses buoyancy and the 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:46.480 radioactive debris and soil and all this stuff UH that's 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:52.080 initially swept upwards by the explosion then disperses with the wind. UM. 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.480 So you get this fallout, which is a fallout is 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:59.480 basically microscopic particles UM in the air. Uh. The end 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:01.960 up being to posited on the ground or on buildings 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:05.760 or on you know, just everywhere, and uh, and they're radioactive. 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:07.840 So think of like a like you see footage of 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.360 like a volcanic eruption where everything is coated in ash, 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.160 and that's pretty destructive. But imagine if the ash in 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.720 this case is radioactive and when I mean radioactive, like 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:22.439 it doesn't even need to touch you to be harmful. Um. 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:24.440 But we'll get to that in just a second. Um. 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:28.800 So you have this mushroom cloud radioactive um particles rising up, 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.880 and that the as a cloud reaches its stabilization height, 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:36.800 it moves down wind and and you have the things. 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:38.920 You don't just have one wind speed or one you 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:43.280 know direction, It varies with altitude. So you'll see you'll 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:45.160 look at that. There's some interesting charts out there that 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.880 that show, um um, how nuclear fallout has moved, say 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.960 just from from some of these test detonations in Nevada, 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.880 and one in particular I was looking at looked at 0:09:56.400 --> 0:10:00.840 the fallout from a ninette kiloton test um of a 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.560 bomb by the name of Simon in Nevada, and depending 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.440 on the altitude, like, the course was drastically different. Like um, 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.760 the particles that made it up to eighteen thousand feet 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.839 they cut through New Mexico and Texas and then shot 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:17.000 north through Arkansas as far north is Pennsylvania. At thirty 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.319 thousand feet, it cut through through the top of New Mexico. 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.280 This is just this path of you know, radioactive materials 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.080 traveling across the country. And then then it went down 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:29.000 through Texas, Southern Louisiana, middle Florida. But then at forty 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:32.319 thousand it goes more or less straight through Texas and 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:35.240 then shoots north on a tour of New England on 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:39.160 up into Canada. So and then if it gets high enough, 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:43.320 you get into the into the stratosphere and you have 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.160 global fallout where it can these particles from can pretty 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.400 much go all over the globe. Yeah. Yeah, and that's 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.120 I think that's probably important to talk about. How you've 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.480 got localized fallout, right, which is you know, by far 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.640 that most dangerous. Yeah, we're talking this is a local 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.960 faud is within fifty to five hundred kilometers from ground zero, 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.240 that's between thirty one miles. That's where all the large 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:08.600 particles are gonna come down. And then you've got regional fallout, right, 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:12.319 and that's five d three thousand kilometers, Okay, and then 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.200 you've got the global, which you were talking. Yeah, and 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:19.640 that's more than three thousand kilometers or more than one Yeah. 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:25.680 And the CBTV, that is the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Um Treaty. 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:29.439 They have a global network of air samples to which 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:34.439 detect traces of radiation. Uh. And they've actually detected traces 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:38.920 from the Fukushima radioactive fallout as far Afield as Sacramento. 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:40.960 And of course that's that's no reason for everybody to 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:43.880 get up in arms and you know, start taking iodine 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.840 because really these are just minute traces. But yeah, they 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.320 basically played like these sensors are used to say, find 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:52.400 out if somebody is doing a nuclear test somewhere in 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.360 the world, because that's the thing. You can't really have 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:58.599 a secret nuclear test because the world is going to 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:00.760 notice because it's that kind of activity is going to 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:05.800 affect global radioactive levels, which again just nit drives home 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:10.439 how destructive and irresponsible. Uh, these weapons are. Well, I mean, 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:13.040 you can get into issues of of nuclear power, is 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:16.240 it clean, is it dangers, um, et cetera. But but 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:18.800 when it comes down to nuclear weapons, it's pretty I 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.920 think it's pretty cut and dry. Well, especially if you 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.719 think about this storehouses of enriched uranium chickuling this of 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.960 it union UM and the amount of thefts that we 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.160 know have gone on also with plutonium. I mean, this 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.200 is there are many other issues that spiral out from 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.400 this UM. But yeah, I mean it's it's dangerous stuff 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.400 at any level and hard to keep keep tabs on. 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.640 But we should probably talk about some of the more 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:47.440 specific dangers of fallout UM and actually, like what is 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.720 an acceptable amount of radigation? Which which I feel like 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:54.840 I cannot get a firm answer on. Yeah, well, let's 0:12:54.960 --> 0:13:02.320 let's get into this right ature a quick break. This 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.720 presentation is brought to you by Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:15.000 and we're back. Hello, So what is an acceptable amount 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:17.400 of radiation? Well, I mean it's kind of a moving target. 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:21.720 Jury's definitely still out UM. There's a mathematical model known 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:25.959 as the linear non threshold dose response model LNT model 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:30.480 for short, that helps agencies set levels of acceptable radiation 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:34.600 level UM. So, for example, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:39.439 sets an acceptable level at one milli ram a year. 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.960 And just to put that into context, there are actual 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:46.640 cities where the background radiation level is really high, like Denver, 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.000 and those citizens are exposed to fifty milli rams a year. 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:52.960 And as a side note though that the rate of 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:57.720 cancer is pretty low there, so that's something to consider. Um. 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.959 But um, you know, the average level of natural background 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.280 radiation in the United States is about three hundred fifty 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.280 milli ram a year. So that's that's everything in concert. 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.320 So that's if you take a transatlantic flight, you're going 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.720 to be exposed to thirty five miller ram. If you 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:15.760 get a full body scan, you're gonna have one or 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:19.160 two Miller rams, so that you know, accumulatively, they're looking 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.320 at more like three hundred and fifty milli ramps. So 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.040 in theory, we're all getting zapped way too much with radiation. 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:30.160 But you say that and that's just one agency's um 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.280 thoughts on it, or you know, that's that's what they 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.600 think is acceptable. You can go to a multitude of 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.120 agencies in a multitude of countries and everybody has a 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:42.560 different goal or even moving the goalposts right now because 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:47.000 they're not really sure, um, if radiation is that bad 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:50.800 at low dostitches. So that's why I get a little 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.520 bit frustrated because I don't feel like there's us that 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.800 I still don't feel like people have a good grasp 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:02.720 of of what radiation means and Chernobyl. Obviously, there were 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.360 a lot of horrible things that went on in Chernobyl. 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:09.800 One of the biggest problems we've had long term is 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.400 that there was no one foundation that got together and said, 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:17.680 let's study this in earnest The results are Chernobyl. So 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.800 while we know that there were six thousand cases of 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:24.800 thyroid cancer as a result of fallout from there and 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:30.600 exposure to to irradiated um iodine, we don't really know 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:35.000 fully you know, the six thousand inhabitants around there, how 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:38.520 that actually affected their lives because nobody really followed up 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.760 on it. Yeah, just to touch base on how this 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.120 radiation ends up affecting the body, how the particles in 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.840 nuclear fallout end up harming people. There are two ways 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.760 that it enters the body through external and internal means. External. 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:56.400 This mainly means, like like I said, um, the particles 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:00.400 come down, they're laying everywhere, and they're emitting radiation, so 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.680 they you end up absorbing it because it's emitted from 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.920 the particles. And this is why um like shielding of 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:11.080 buildings becomes important. The idea of remaining indoors in the 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:17.040 event of a nuclear detonation. Yeah, because because the particles 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.800 are emitting this radiation and if you get if something 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.120 is between you and the particle, then well that's gonna help. 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.200 But then there's internal and this is when you're inhaling 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.520 the particles or you're absorbing it through intact or injured 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.880 skin or and this this is a big one, you're 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.440 consuming it um through contaminated foods. And this can be 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.200 as simple as all right, I eat a carrot and 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.560 the carrot has particles of radioactive particles on it from 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:44.480 the fallout, or I eat um, I don't know, I 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.800 eat the rabbit that ate the carrot. See, it ends 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:50.880 up impacting the entire food chain of which we are 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.880 apart um. It ends up and it gets involved in 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:55.960 like dairy too. I mean, there's just you know, because 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:57.960 if you drink the milk that came from the cow 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:00.720 that ate the grass that the fallout fell on, right, 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:05.160 then you're you're going to have some possible health problems there. Yeah. 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:09.000 And um, you should also again talk about Chernobyl when 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.920 that happened, uh, when the fallout from that happened, that 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.560 the government actually didn't say to its citizens quit eating 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.160 UH contaminated food or telling them it's contaminated, or telling 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.360 them not to drink the water. Um. So again this 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.560 is another reason why people were exposed to it so readily, 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.760 and all that we know in Japan that they warn 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:33.720 the citizens to quit eating and drinking UH water sources there. 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.960 But I wanted to talk a little bit about two 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:41.200 volatile elements cassium one thirty seven and iodine one thirty one. 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.359 Those we know bubbled off the damaged fuel in Japan, 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.760 and iodine is rapidly absorbed by the thyroid and it 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.919 leaves only as it decays radioactively with half life of 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.520 eight days, while cassium is absorbed by muscles, where it's 0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:00.240 half life of thirty years means that it remains until 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.680 it's excreted by the body. So it takes between ten 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.080 and one days to excrete half of what has been consumed. 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:11.879 So that's why these these two things are problematic because 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:16.600 they're they're absorbed very easily by the body. Um. Now 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:20.080 we know that Japan's followed near chernobyls levels. But again 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:22.560 we know that that there's a big difference here because 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:26.960 Japan took you know, some precautions and warning their citizens 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.520 and also giving them iodine. And the whole reason that 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:32.320 you would give someone an iodine is that if you 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:34.520 were to take all the iodine, your body would absorb 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.719 that and then in theory, absorbed less of that your 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.960 radiated iodine, and then you know, your thyroid wouldn't be 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.879 stuck there with a bunch of irradiated It would be 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.800 like adding like eating eating a healthy dinner before going 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.399 to the tow or the Twinkie factory. It's like fold up. 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.120 You know, I couldn't possibly eat eight free twinkies. I'd 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.040 probably just eat one. I'll just have one, Yeah, the 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.639 twinkie analogy. So that's that's what we know about some 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:02.320 of the fallout and how it affects you. And of 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.399 course we know that thyroid cancer is is a big 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:09.679 one that develops as a result of exposure. And we 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.359 should probably talk just a little bit about environmental fluid dynamics. 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:16.560 Don't turn off the podcast. It's not really scary thing. 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:18.560 We're going to call it e d F just to 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:20.520 make a little bit more edgy. It sounds like it 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:24.040 doesn't sound edgy to me as much as it sounds 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:30.600 like some sort of like digestion disorder like he's got to. Also, 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:32.000 it wouldn't be e d F. It would be e 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:36.920 f d oh e f d oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:39.000 that's all right. Well, I like, well e F D 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.800 acronyms are not my strong point. Let's talk about the 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:46.040 fluid dynamics a fallout, all right. So fluid dynamics is 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:50.239 basically about how fluids moves, how the air moves, how 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:54.200 the water moves, and these are complex systems. Uh. If 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:56.920 you if you've ever looked at how the weather work works. Um, 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.120 and we have a really cool article on the side. 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.280 How we write that, right, I wrote that, which I 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.280 mean it's cool because you know I wrote it, so 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.760 it's cool, but it's also I feel like it's good. Yeah, 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:10.080 it's it's a good article, I feel like. But yeah, 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:13.399 the weather is a complex system, a very chaotic system. Uh. 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:16.160 The whole idea of like the butterfly effect comes out 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:19.080 and uh and uh and chaos theory comes out of 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:23.199 studying the weather and realizing that how difficult it is 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.560 to to predict what it's gonna do, even with complicated 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:30.800 mathematical models. Um. I mean, and that's why you the 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:35.400 farther off a a weather forecast, the less you can 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:37.760 rely on it because it's just such a chaotic system. 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.119 So you have, you know, different movements that are like 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:45.120 I said, one UH nuclear detonation, you'll see fallout move 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.359 in like four different patterns UH, and it and and 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:50.879 it just it gets so the distribution of fallout becomes 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:54.200 very complicated when you're looking at how it affects UH 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.960 a regional or you know, global scenario. Yeah, and our 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:03.240 understanding of fallout and the earlier years UM was modeled 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.359 after flat terrain right where all the tests were taking place, 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.399 so we thought the fallout would you act in a 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.840 certain way, And then it was only until we started say, oh, 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:15.240 but then there's this whole weather thing, and there's geography 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:20.560 and there's urban environment. Yeah. Yeah, because like the city 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:22.800 example is pretty cool. UM. In fact, there was a 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:27.760 study in two thousand nine UM from the Los Almos 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:31.439 National Laboratory where they use computer models of cities and 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:34.399 and use flood dynamic models to see how a large 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:39.280 metropolitan area UH would tamper with local wind patterns and 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.800 effect the way fallout is distributed. And you have things 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:46.040 like UM, I mean just the cities really messed with 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:48.520 with climate anyway you know you have like like a 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:51.960 sun heated parking lot creates a localized updraft, drawing in 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:56.400 air from surrounding areas, and skyscrapers work like artificial mountains. 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:59.040 So of a plume of radiated debris were to blow 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:03.080 against a tall building, physicists predict that that the flow 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:06.359 would launch skyword in what they call a fountain effect, 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:09.600 resulting in a wider distribution of radiated particles. Yeah. I 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:11.440 just keep when whenever I think about the fountain fact, 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:13.879 I think of it just like spraying off of the building. 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.119 To Wright, like you can sort of think of it 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:19.600 like a motorcycle hitting like a launch ramp, where it 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.440 just launches it straight up into the air. Yeah, isn't 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:26.960 the idea to take these mathematical models and then try 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:30.680 to use them to to predict real time to people 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:32.960 so that if you were in this sort of situation 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:36.720 that you might be able to communicate with people I 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:39.520 don't like via their smartphones and say, you know, it's 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:43.080 moving in this direction, take cover and move east, and 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.119 just generally be able to plan better for one of 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:50.199 these scenarios. Because you know, this is especially relevant, is 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:55.120 especially relevant, not just in the use of actual nuclear detonations, 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:56.840