Things To Do To Survive A Nuclear Explosion

It all starts with a bright flash more than the sun. All trees, fences, people and even animals catch fire immediately. Millions of people die by just an explosion. Also, the nuclear weapons can also cause great damage by what is called nuclear fallout. It refers to a process where radioactive materials are carried by the wind and consequently, more damage is caused. However, there are some few things that you can do so that you survive. Look at the following:

What do you do if you are outside when the bomb drops? The first thing you don't want to do is look in the direction of the explosion since the flash of light from it will blind you. Also, you need to drop your face down flat on the ground and cover yourself if you can. Once you feel the wave is over, go to find shelter. Move to the deepest part of the building. It is safe if there are more than one layer between you and the radioactive material. If you can go underground, it becomes safer. Carefully remove your clothing and put it in a plastic bag and seal it up as best you can. Removing your clothing will remove 90% of the radioactive material. Remove the bag as far away from people and animals as possible. Take a shower with soapy water making sure not to scrub or scratch your skin. Shampoo your hair but do not use any conditioner. Conditioners will cause radioactive particles to stick to your hair. Gently clean your ears with a clean wet cloth, do not insert a cotton swab into your ear as you may push radioactive material into your ear canal. Gently blow your nose. If showering is not an option, you can use baby wipes to clean with.

If you are aware that a nuclear blast is coming try to find the safest building you can for protection. Remember the more layers between you and the radioactive material the better. When relocating to a different area, the decision of taking a vehicle is a bad idea. Try to make it to a place you can quickly walk to. Plan on sheltering in the place for at least 24 hours.

If you can afford to build a blast shelter or fallout shelter, it might be an investment to consider. A blast shelter and a fallout shelter are not the same. As the name suggests, a blast shelter is designed to protect against the initial blast whereas a fallout shelter is designed to protect against the radioactive fallout after the blast. Keep in mind that if you are in the immediate area of the blast, no blast shelter is going to protect you. A fallout shelter doesn't need to be fancy; it can be any space with enough material which is dense to keep you safe.

After the Chernobyl accident, potassium iodine tablets were widely used and found to be more effective in children than formerly thought. Potassium iodine tablets are designed to help protect the thyroid glands from radioactive iodine by blocking or reducing the chances of it entering the thyroid gland. If you don't have any, it may be a good idea to get them now because in the event of nuclear fallout they may be hard to find.

Gas masks can protect you from inhaling radioactive particles which are where most of the damaging effects of fallout will come from. You should learn how to use the gas masks even before buying them. It is good to have better radiation suits, and once you afford one, then you will be safe. For the rest of us, just like going to a shelter, the more layers, the better. Any protection is better than no protection. If you do have all the fancy gear, don't think that you are immune to the radiation. You still need to limit your exposure.

Remember to make sure to listen to any and all communication devices you have. Ths is because you don't know what will be functional. It must be done the moment you get away from the affected area. If you can survive the initial blast and take the right actions you can survive.

Plutonium - A Radioactive Chemical Element

The Discovery

In 1941, four scientists from the University of California, Berkeley discovered plutonium. The finding took place when the men bombarded uranium-238 with deuterons which they accelerated the uranium-238 around in a cyclotron. The result was the creation of neptunium-238 along with two free neutrons which decayed and became plutonium, according to Chemistry Explained.

It was 1946 when one scientist, Glenn T. Seaborg, wrote a paper about the discovery. The team shared the results with the rest of the community of scientists, but the academic community removed the results when they found that plutonium contained isotope Pu-239, an ingredient that could contribute to the creation of the atomic bomb.

The Los Alamos National Library reported that Seaborg transferred to the Plutonium Production Lab at the University of Chicago. There he was charged with creating plutonium as part of the Manhattan Project, a secret group working to develop the atomic bomb. The plutonium was named for the now debunked planet, following the practice of naming the two previous elements, neptunium and uranium after Neptune and Uranus.

Uses for Plutonium

But along with its infamous use in the Manhattan Project, plutonium had other reasons for being, including the following:

• Plutonium's radiation manifests as heat. It produces so much heat that it feels warm to the touch when held. A large piece of plutonium, when placed in water, can cause the water to boil.
• Space probes and space vehicles use plutonium to provide electrical power.
• The heat property of Plutonium also makes it useful for some thermoelectric generator uses. And it is utilized as a fuel for nuclear fission.
• When a neutron collides with uranium-238 isotopes in the reactor, they do not experience fission, but they do change to plutonium-239 which, when removed from the reactor, is purified and re-used as fuel for yet another nuclear reactor.
• The earliest pacemakers had batteries that contained small amounts of plutonium-238.

"Fat Man" (the bomb which dropped on the Nagasaki) had a plutonium core.

Dangers of Plutonium

The toxicity of plutonium is one of the highest of any element. Only remote devices are safe when handling the compound, and the person working with the plutonium must remain behind a protective wall to avoid radiation. A danger to the body when exposed to plutonium is that it is apt to concentrate in bones which could lead to bone cancer down the line.

Characteristics of Plutonium

• A silvery radioactive metal, plutonium does tarnish when exposed to air. The result is a yellow oxide coating.
• Plutonium's six allotropic forms differ widely in density and crystal structure.
• And due to Plutonium's 87.7-year half-life, it produces roughly 4800 gigajoules of energy. For that same amount of energy, if using natural gas, the Mars rover would need to take along approximately 86 metric tons of methane, along with 345 metric tons of oxygen.

Plutonium’s Future

An article in The Atlantic by Shirley Li, the author quotes Alex Wellerstein, a historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology, who believes that nuclear energy can potentially become a part of future that will have no fossil fuels. Some may disagree that creating more nuclear waste is a good idea, but Wellerstein adds that it may be the world’s only alternative.