• Peafield @programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    Here is an interesting fact: Bananas are naturally radioactive. They contain potassium, and a tiny fraction of that potassium is actually the radioactive isotope potassium-40. This has even led to the creation of the “banana equivalent dose,” a playful unit of radiation exposure!

    • paddirn@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      XKCD created this handy Radiation Dose Chart that shows the radiation exposure you get from bananas as compared to other sources of radiation, to put it in perspective. Luckily, I’ll never get radiation from sleeping next to someone else.

      • VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf
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        1 year ago

        So what Randall saying is that eating a banana is the equivalent of a threesome? Never knew bananas were so SPICY

    • Ignotum@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This was an interesting and humorous little factoid, thank you for sharing this with us

    • VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf
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      1 year ago

      Another fun banana fact: banana equivalent dose is also the threshold at which a beer is allowed to be classified as non-alcoholic in spite of not technically being completely devoid of alcohol.

      The (quite reasonable) compromise being that any content below the 0.5% some bananas contain metabolizes so quickly that it’s literally impossible to get drunk on it and furthermore too dilute for even the severely allergic and people on medicine with adverse interactions to feel any ill effects.