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Can you drink Super-heavy water (T2O)? What happens if you drink it?
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Posted by
Jozef Mitros
Can you drink Super-heavy water (T2O)? What happens if you drink it?
Super-heavy water is radioactive. Tritium decays via β- decay to form helium.
Normally, beta decay isn’t that big a hazard. The beta particles (electrons, in the case of β- decay) can’t usually penetrate the skin, so you’re at some risk of skin burns but that’s about it.
Ingesting a beta source, on the other hand…now that’s a whole ‘mother barrel of particle radiation emitters.
Small quantities of tritiated water won’t harm you; it occurs in nature, after all. On the other hand, drinking a glass of super-heavy water is likely to cause significant radiation poisoning.
I notice another answer as I write this that appears to have confused super-heavy water with heavy water (deuterium oxide rather than tritium oxide). Deuterium oxide isn’t exactly toxic, though it does interfere with cell reproduction. It’s not radioactive either. Super-heavy water has the mitosis-inhibiting effects of heavy water, but the bigger problem is the fact that it’s radioactive.
Super-heavy water is radioactive. Tritium decays via β- decay to form helium.
Normally, beta decay isn’t that big a hazard. The beta particles (electrons, in the case of β- decay) can’t usually penetrate the skin, so you’re at some risk of skin burns but that’s about it.
Ingesting a beta source, on the other hand…now that’s a whole ‘mother barrel of particle radiation emitters.
Small quantities of tritiated water won’t harm you; it occurs in nature, after all. On the other hand, drinking a glass of super-heavy water is likely to cause significant radiation poisoning.
I notice another answer as I write this that appears to have confused super-heavy water with heavy water (deuterium oxide rather than tritium oxide). Deuterium oxide isn’t exactly toxic, though it does interfere with cell reproduction. It’s not radioactive either. Super-heavy water has the mitosis-inhibiting effects of heavy water, but the bigger problem is the fact that it’s radioactive.
Super-heavy water is radioactive. Tritium decays via β- decay to form helium.
Normally, beta decay isn’t that big a hazard. The beta particles (electrons, in the case of β- decay) can’t usually penetrate the skin, so you’re at some risk of skin burns but that’s about it.
Ingesting a beta source, on the other hand…now that’s a whole ‘mother barrel of particle radiation emitters.
Small quantities of tritiated water won’t harm you; it occurs in nature, after all. On the other hand, drinking a glass of super-heavy water is likely to cause significant radiation poisoning.
I notice another answer as I write this that appears to have confused super-heavy water with heavy water (deuterium oxide rather than tritium oxide). Deuterium oxide isn’t exactly toxic, though it does interfere with cell reproduction. It’s not radioactive either. Super-heavy water has the mitosis-inhibiting effects of heavy water, but the bigger problem is the fact that it’s radioactive.
Super-heavy water is radioactive. Tritium decays via β- decay to form helium.
Normally, beta decay isn’t that big a hazard. The beta particles (electrons, in the case of β- decay) can’t usually penetrate the skin, so you’re at some risk of skin burns but that’s about it.
Ingesting a beta source, on the other hand…now that’s a whole ‘mother barrel of particle radiation emitters.
Small quantities of tritiated water won’t harm you; it occurs in nature, after all. On the other hand, drinking a glass of super-heavy water is likely to cause significant radiation poisoning.
I notice another answer as I write this that appears to have confused super-heavy water with heavy water (deuterium oxide rather than tritium oxide). Deuterium oxide isn’t exactly toxic, though it does interfere with cell reproduction. It’s not radioactive either. Super-heavy water has the mitosis-inhibiting effects of heavy water, but the bigger problem is the fact that it’s radioactive.
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