Nuclear Radiation Misconceptions

Let's get straight to it:
Myth 1.
Hundreds of thousands of people were killed as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Reality
Approximately 50 emergency workers died as a result of radiation poisoning (known as ARS - Aqute Radiation Syndrome).
A total of 134 emergency workers were diagnosed with ARS.

Approximaely 4,000 children contacted thyroid cancer, and nine children died as a result.

Children are the most susceptable to thyroid cancer because of their large take-up of milk, which contains concentrated radiation, but also because their cells reproduce more rapidly and are therefore more sensitive to radiation poisoning.

Among the general population exposed to the radioactive fallout, the radiation doses were relatively low, and ARS and associatied fatalities did not occur.

The possible increase in cancer mortality due to this radiation exposure may be up to . . . four thousand fatal cancers . . .

However a website based on this report does mention that there could be perhaps another 5,000 fatalaties in surrounding regions.

The italicised section is taken from a report entitled Chernobyl's Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Aspects, which can be found here

This involved the input of many of all the relevant United Nations organisations, along with others such as the World Health Organisation.

The report does state however that the latent period for many cancers - apart from thyroid cancer and leukemia - is ofter of the order of 10 to 15 years or lmore, therefore there may be some increase in these in the future, but as of yet (data seems to have been collected up until 2002) there is no noticeable increase in other cancers.


Incidentally, how do iodine tablets work in the event of a nuclear accident?
The tablets saturate the thyroid gland with stable iodine in order to prevent it from accumulating any radioactive iodine that may have been released into the environment.
Taken from The Department of Health and Children website here


Myth 2.
Children who were born in this area suffered terrible deformities as a result of the radiation fallout having been passed on through genes. This also applies to children who were born to survivors of the atomic bombs which were dropped in Japan in WWII.

Reality
There has been a modest but steady increase in reported congenital malformations in both 'contaminated' and 'uncontaminated' areas of Belarus since 1986. This does not appear to be radiation-related and may be the result of increased registration.
Again, this is taken from the report mentioned above.

For information on the Atomic Bomb Survivor Research Program see the FAQ here.
Question 7 in particular is relevant:
What health effects have been seen among the children born to atomic-bomb survivors?
This was one of the earliest concerns in the aftermath of the bombings. Efforts to detect genetic effects were begun in the late 1940s and continue to this day. Thus far, no evidence of genetic effects has been found.

Relevant sources of information
Chernobyl forum FAQ here. This is a fairly user-friendly access point.
There is a nice link here to a CNN news report video clip on the results of the forum (2:30, 17 MB).
Click here for a video (4:30, 30 MB) on how animals were affected.

Now one option on reading this is to question the source of the information, and in this age one is right to be cynical. However if we refuse to accept the word of the organisations involved in this report, where else can we turn?

There are two more issues which haven't been dealt with here
1. What do the people who were evacuated actually do when they get moved?
2. You can't really evacuate the population of an island.

To be continued . . .

'Story with Global Warming not on the syllabus?

The nice thing about Global Warming is that it that it may very well wipe us out as a species in the next couple of hundred years.
It is the single greatest catastrophe to hit human-kind EVER.

And in the grand scheme of things we couldn't say we didn't deserve it, or that we haven't been warned.

Because it's effects are not affecting us directly at this moment in time we just choose to bury our heads in the sand.
It's like the story of the frog in the pot:
If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out instantly.
Yet, if you were to place it in a pot of cool water and slowly raise the temperature to boiling point, the frog will unsuspectingly meet its fatal demise.

You want to know what the Junior Cert Science syllabus has to say about this calamity?
Consider the following.
Junior Cert Biology:
Consider and discuss how human activity affects the environment, both positively and negatively (two examples in each case).

Junior Cert Physics:
List the advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources of energy, including nuclear sources of energy, as part of the solution to national energy needs.

Actually scratch that last one.
Apparently we only need to look at energy in terms of out national energy needs, not in terms of the fact that we are the single worst thing to ever happen this planet.
So that's allright then.

Junior Cert Chemistry:
Nada.
Faic.
Not a cracker.

So how about the Leaving Cert?
Well let's see.
There's nothing in Biology (hopefully somebody will prove me wrong here) and nothing in Leaving Cert Physics.
Leaving Cert Chemistry does go into it in some detail (for the small percentage of students who do it at this level):
The greenhouse effect and the influence of human activity on it,
and later;
Possible implications of the increased greenhouse effect.

Well here's one Possible effect of the greenhouse effect for you;
Your children may very well be the last generation to live what we now regard as a 'normal' life, and it may very well be too late for us to do anything about it now even if we did want to.
And let's face it; with the current demand for chelsea tractors in this country, anything we do will amount to little more than lip-service.

And we can't even say we didn't deserve it.

Sweet dreams!

No more to say, at the end of the day

http://dingo.care2.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf

Says it all, really

No evolution in Junior Cert? Say it ain't so!

Okay, let's get one thing straight.
The greatest single idea that mankind has ever - and I mean ever - come up with is The Theory of Evolution.
It is the greatest idea in the history of the universe, and even comes ahead of the idea of the origin of the universe itself. And I say this as a physics graduate.
It's not on the Junior Cert Science syllabus.
see for yourself

Now I do believe there is a general outcry that not enough students are taking science subjects at Leaving Cert level, and indeed this revised syllabus was designed partly to address this.
Indeed the 'Introduction and Rationale' section of the syllabus states:
"Arising out of their experiences in the junior cycle, it is hoped that many students will be encouraged to study one of the subjects in the senior cycle, thus preparing themselves for further study or work in this area".

So why would you leave out the most incredible, stupendous, unbelievable (almost!), bizarre, wonderful, horrible, exciting, humbling, uplifting, emotional and awe-inspiring idea that the students could ever possible come across in thier lives, never mind in their school experience?

And here's the kick.
Every so often the media here grab hold of the fact that the U.S. education system is having difficultity keeping evolution in their syllabus, and we think to ourselves "oh those silly yanks".
Meanwhile we remain in ignorant bliss that we never had it on our syllabus in the first place.
Of course, the percentage of the school-going public that take Biology at leaving cert level do come across this, but for the rest of us there is nothing.
At least not in their science education.

Interestingly, while I don't see a mention of it in the Junior Cert Religion syllabus (now there's another missed opportunity! Imagine being able to make religion interesting?), it does make an appearance in the Leaving Cert Religion syllabus (check it out here - it's first mentioned on page 103 of 110 in the pdf document).
Here's part of what it says:
"Outline Darwin's Theory of Evolution and highlight the major areas of conflict with religion"
Now there's one to get your teeth into.

This section also delves into the origins of the universe, along with concepts like Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. I reckon there'll be some serious nervous religion teachers going in to class that day.

The fact that there's nothing about The Big Bang or origin of the universe in the Junior Cert or Leaving Cert physics syllabus is for another day . . .

Progress steady but slow

Okay, I would apologise about delay if I thought anyone was reading it, maybe I should do something to publicise it, but then I reckon there's no point in doing that untill I know I am going to stick with it.

Anyway.

Did a bit of work yesterday with sound files for leaving certs - seems to have gone down well, but again time will tell.
Had already done some files for Junior Certs here.

Put up some revision notes for Applied Maths.

We had the Lab-in-a-Lorry visit today which first and second years seemed to really enjoy, more of the same tomorrow. Hopefully I will have time to take the camcorder out and record some clips to put on the website.

The site does offer more ideas on an almost daily basis. I had a student today who couldn't take a test because he wasn't going to be in school, and wanted a copy of it to do later. I couldn't do this because i couldn't be sure that the test would remain confidential, but I was able to put it up on the home page temporarily, so that it could be downloaded.

We had a memorial service for our school chaplain today. Bob Whiteside died last week after a long illness, and if there's a more positive, cheerful character out there I have yet to meet him.
It was nice to see many of the past pupils return for the service and catch up.

Hopefully I will get around to putting up an archive where we can keep track of who went where, and what the various undergraduates have to say about their courses, so that Leaving Cert students can get a flavour of what's involved with each course.

Stay tuned

Off to the U S of A!

Mid-term is nigh.
I'm off to the Big Apple with she-who-must-be-obeyed for the week. I foresee tantrums in shopping malls as I tend to get cranky after six hours looking at guchi whatyoumacallems and jimmychouchous.
However there is always The New York Hall of Science to keep me busy. I'm bringing the camcorder to tape some of the interactive exhibits, and hopefully put them online. I've contacted the museum and they're okay to allow this.
Stay tuned.

Cool transition year project

"The Way Things Go" is a wonderful short film of a chain reaction put together in some large warehouse.
You can see a short clip of it here
Anyways, I show this to the troops any time I need to kill ten minutes or maybe at the end of term. I usually end up having to pry them out of teh classroom.

At some stage I was asked 'why can't we do that'?, and I thought 'Well why not'?
So recently I gave the task to my transition years, and they have taken to it like no other project or experiment they have ever done (in physics at least).
They have to come up with their own design, use their own resources, it can be as simple or as complex as they wish.
In fact as an engineering project it is very useful because those who initially wanted everything in it, quickly realised how unpractical this is.
There is also serious teamwork involved, and whose who plan in advance tend to do best.

The most successful so far have been the teams who go for short simple parts.
They can they put the final project together inside teh lab or outside in a field. We video it, and they vote for the best project.

I used to be uncomfortable with this, primarily because I was handing over the class to the students, and therefore I had less control, but now I can see so many benifits that I would be very upset if I couldn't use this any more.

So for any other physics teachers out there (and there's no reason why it has to be just physics) why not give it a go?

We could always compare projects and have an inter-school challenge!
You don't need any equipment, budget, or even much preparation on your part; it is, as they say, a win-win situation.