03-15-2011, 03:55 AM
I'd be surprised if the "hot particle" warnings need to be sent anywhere...
My guess is that Alabama does isotope identification, which can help in tracing sources.
From a health perspective, hot is hot - when an atom in your body gets ionized, the damage is done, regardless of what did the ionization. Rack up a few trillion ionizations and you might start to notice some effects (since your body has 10^27ish molecules)
Geiger counters count individual ionization events inside their chamber...
Edit to add link to article:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20...?full=true
My guess is that Alabama does isotope identification, which can help in tracing sources.
From a health perspective, hot is hot - when an atom in your body gets ionized, the damage is done, regardless of what did the ionization. Rack up a few trillion ionizations and you might start to notice some effects (since your body has 10^27ish molecules)
Geiger counters count individual ionization events inside their chamber...
Edit to add link to article:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20...?full=true