If you can't stand the hot (stones), get out of the kitchen!

Ionizing radiation, the subatomic particles with energies large enough to cause genetic mutations and potentially cancer, surrounds us. It rains on us from above, is in our food, rises into the air from the
ground under our homes, and is key to many beneficial medical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Physicists that smash nuclei together at high speeds are aware of and comfortable with an additional exposure beyond this natural background resulting from their research.

One day a few years ago, Dr. Bill Llope (WSU Physics & Astronomy) was asked to appear in a local TV news piece investigating a homeowner's claim that his granite kitchen countertops had killed his dogs and was thus assumed to be greatly endangering his family. This started a few year hobby to learn about radiation from granite countertops in homes. Along the way, Dr. Llope ran into (unnecessarily) angry granite retailers, a public already overly worried about radiation risks, local and national media coverage, and several forms of industrial subterfuge. At the same time, he collected a variety of samples of granite countertops available for homeowners from many local granite dealers, and then measured the radiation rates and activity concentrations of the major radioactive sources, 40-K, U-nat, and 232-Th, using a "full spectrum analysis." An anthropomorphic phantom and the "geant4" physics simulation package was used to relate the measured activity concentrations to the yearly direct-radiation doses to kitchen occupants. The results were published [1]. In this talk, Dr. Llope will share what he learned and answer the question: "Are your granite countertops trying to kill you?"

[1] W.J. Llope, "Activity concentrations and dose rates from decorative granite countertops", Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volume 102, Issue 6, June 2011, Pages 620-629, ISSN 0265-931X,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.03.012
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X11000580

Sciences & Humanities Under the Dome is a free public lecture series supported by the Rita & Stanley Levy & Ratna & Vaman Naik Endowment. We welcome all members of the community to join us in the planetarium for these research lectures!

Light refreshments will be provided prior to the lecture. Doors open at 5:30pm.