plutonium

[folder]

"I recall injesting Barium for a test. Don't know which isotope."

 

Possibly 122 or 123. But don't they usually use isotopes that go through IT or B+' date=' instead of EC?[/quote']

 

It's nonradioactive, it's just used for contrast in X-rays (so they can see your intestines on an X-ray). It's in the form of Barium Sulfate. I have about 300 grams of it at the time, my dad, who's a radiologist, got me some for a Barium sample for my periodic table .

[swansont]

It's nonradioactive, it's just used for contrast in X-rays (so they can see your intestines on an X-ray). It's in the form of Barium Sulfate. I have about 300 grams of it at the time, my dad, who's a radiologist, got me some for a Barium sample for my periodic table .

 

Thanks. I now recall it was for an x-ray.

 

Here is an article about radioactive isotopes used in tracers and in treatment.

[Gilded]

Ooooh x-ray shading. Why didn't you say so. I thought you we're talking about PET/radiotherapy test isotopes.

 

"I have about 300 grams of it at the time, my dad, who's a radiologist, got me some for a Barium sample for my periodic table"

 

My dad did PET at a local university, still works there. My mom also works there. And all they ever got me was some glass vials and dry ice. >:/

[YT2095]

i heard that botulinum toxin a was...

me too, Clostridium Botulin Toxin.

 

but that was in the 70`s when I read about that, maybe <sarcasm> modern "advances" have improved upon this </sarcasm>

 

Ricin`s pretty nasty too

[Gilded]

"me too, Clostridium Botulin Toxin."

 

My 8th-9th grade chemistry teacher told that a schnapps glass of the stuff would be enough to kill the entire population of Sweden.

[YT2095]

sounds about right.

[Gilded]

Well then, that's the only case where I'd like to see Swedes drink a glass of schnapps.

 

No really, I like Sweden as much as Conan O'Brien does.

[J'Dona]

To quote the short story "The Long Watch" by Robert A. Heinlein:

Plutonium taken into the body moves quickly to bone marrow. Nothing can be done; the victim is finished. Neutrons from it smash through the body, ionizing tissue, transmuting atoms into radioactive isotopes, destroying and killing. The fatal dose is unbelievably small; a mass a tenth the size of a grain of table salt is more than enough—a dose small enough to enter through the tiniest scratch. During the historic "Manhattan Project" immediate high amputation was considered the only possible first-aid measure.

Now that's just sci-fi, but it gives some idea as to the dangers of plutonium, and sounds about right with YT2095's figure of 0.5 nanograms. Given that it's also the most valuable metal on the planet (as far as I know), I don't think it's used in therapeutic medicine, so it probably doesn't have a therapeutic index. I'm sure there are laws against using it for anything other than power production, scientific research, or *ahem* foreign affairs.