this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2024
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I heard once that old smoke detectors have some radioactive isotopes in them. Not sure how true or dangerous but sounds bad.
Ionization chamber smoke detectors have a tiny grain of Americium in them, which is radioactive. However, the radiation is almost entirely alpha particles which are relatively low risk as they don't penetrate skin particularly well.
They are also still sold, though you should buy the other kind (which use light beams instead) because they're significantly better at their jobs.
They're low risk unless you ingest them, because then they're hitting internal organs directly.
Also if you pool the Americium from 100 detectors together they become pretty dangerous.
I forget the details, but each design has a use-case.
Though for most people, the newer design is likely the better choice.
Current smoke detectors still do, and usually have some warning on them stating such.