radiation on physical objects- can the team please reply!

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2011-04-22 16:31

Hi everybody
I was wondering if anyone knew wether radiation can contaminate physical objects such as phones or other devices.
My husband was in Japan for business during the disaster and since being back at home, to be on the safe side, we washed all his clothes but what about his iphone and laptop? Would these be contaminated too?
I apologize if this sounds like a silly question but I don't know enough about the subject and would appreciate any thoughts. I have very young children and I want to be make sure all is safe.

Many thanks,
J.

‹ Contamination in packaged foods. 2006 National academies of science report on biological effects of ionizing radiation ›

Objects

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2011-04-22 20:41.

not a silly question. Unless he was is a remarkably contaminated area, just cleaning the items off with paper towels and Windex will be fine. There are ways objects themselves can become radioactive from exposure, but it is typically exposure to significant amounts of neutrons, which will not be the case here.

radioactive particle is like

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2011-04-22 18:21.

radioactive particle is like dust or pollen. You can wipe off with wet towel. The tricky thing is that it's invisible. Wiping and discarding the towel should do the trick but if that does not ease your worry, it is probably worth throwing away the suspect objects and replace with new ones!

Please don't throw them

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2011-04-22 20:35.

Please don't throw them away. Send them to me. i will use them and send them back to you after the radiocive particles decay.