• deltapi@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    3 days ago

    A human body blocks more than several inches of lead? I need to rethink the design of my bunker.

    • xthexder@l.sw0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      3 days ago

      Doing some quick math and numbers pulled from wikipedia, Lead is about 14-15x as effective by volume compared to water at blocking gamma radiation.

      I think far more significant in saving the other scientists was the inverse square law. The radiation energy falls off with the square of distance, so Slotin would have received a significantly higher dose just from being right next to it.