Advertisement

This site uses cookies to enhance your user experience. By continuing to use this site you are agreeing to our COOKIE POLICY.

ACCEPT AND CLOSE

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

The key to knowledge is in your (nitrile-gloved) hands

Already an ACS Member?  

Basic

$0 Community Associate

ACS’s Basic Package keeps you connected with C&EN and ACS.

  • Access to 6 digital C&EN articles per month on cen.acs.org
  • Weekly delivery of the C&EN Essential newsletter
JOIN NOW
Standard

$80 Regular Members & Society Affiliates

ACS’s Standard Package lets you stay up to date with C&EN, stay active in ACS, and save.

Eligibility restrictions apply. Review ACS Membership Packages to see if you qualify.

JOIN NOW
Premium

$160 Regular Members & Society Affiliates
$55 Graduate Students
$25 Undergraduate Students

ACS’s Premium Package gives you full access to C&EN and everything the ACS Community has to offer.

  • Unlimited access to C&EN’s daily news coverage on cen.acs.org
  • Weekly delivery of the C&EN Magazine in print or digital format
  • Access to our Chemistry News by C&EN mobile app
  • Significant discounts on registration for most ACS-sponsored meetings
ACS offers discounts for some countries outside the United States. This discount is shown at checkout, if applicable.

JOIN NOW

Thank you!

Your account has been created successfully, and a confirmation email is on the way.

Your username is now your ACS ID.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Environment

Periodic Graphics

Periodic Graphics: What are the risks of radon?

Chemical educator and Compound Interest blogger Andy Brunning explains how radon can waft into our homes and what risks the radioactive element poses.

by Andy Brunning, special to C&EN
August 30, 2021 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 99, Issue 31
Advertisement

Most Popular in Environment

 

Infographic on the risks of radon. 

Naturally occurring radon accounts for most of the background radiation we're exposed to. Higher radon levels in buildings pose a risk to our health.

Uranium isotopes in the ground undergo radioactive decay into other elements, including radium, which decays to produce radon. Radon itself decays into other radioactive elements.

A diagram shows the decay chain that produces radium.

Radon is a gas that emanates from the ground, particularly in areas with lots of granite or shale in the soil. Radon accumulates in confined parts of houses, particularly in basements.

A diagram shows the scale on which radon is measured in picocuries per liter of air. The average indoor level is 1.3 pCi/L, 2.7 is the World Health Organization radon action level, and 4.0 is the US Environmental Protection Agency radon action level.

Radon can be detected via α track detectors, in which α particles produced by radon make microscopic damage tracks on a plastic material; activated carbon adsorption, in which activated carbon adsorbs radon and the emitted radiation is measured; electret ion chambers, in which negative ions created from radon radiation reduce the charge on a Teflon disk; and continuous monitoring methods, which continuously measure and record radon and its decay products.
One in 15 US homes are estimated to have radon levels above the EPA’s action level. Radon is a major cause of lung cancer and causes an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the US.


To download a pdf of this article, visit http://cenm.ag/radonrisk.

References used to create this graphic:

Hanson, David J. “Living with Radon.” Chemical & Engineering News, Aug. 22, 2011.

World Health Organization. “Radon and Health.” Feb. 2, 2021.

Zeeb, Hajo, and Ferid Shannoun, eds. WHO Handbook on Indoor Radon: A Public Health Perspective. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2009.

A collaboration between C&EN and Andy Brunning, author of the popular graphics blog Compound Interest

To see more of Brunning’s work, go to compoundchem.com. To see all of C&EN’s Periodic Graphics, visit cenm.ag/periodicgraphics.

 

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.
GET MORE
GET MORE