What Is Radon Used for?

Video Transcript

"Him I'm Brian with ericksontutoring.blogspot.com. Today we're going to discuss what radon is used for. Radon is the eighty sixth element on a periodic table; it is a radioactive noble gas. So radioactive means that spontaneously undergoes decay and a noble gas means that there is a electrons on the outside shelf. So it's not really very reactive with other elements. It's colorless and odorless but it actually can be quite dangerous. Houses built poorly in certain types of soil can have high concentrations of radon in their basement especially 'cause it settles down there. And radon actually is pretty harmful for your lungs; it's the second leading cause of lung cancer and here in the US it's the sixth leading cause of cancer death. So, there's one man in the UK whose house had such a high concentration of radon that it was as though he were smoking a hundred and thirty five packs of cigarettes a day. Pretty, pretty serious implications for the lungs. So in terms of what radon is used for; radon is used in radiotherapy to treat cancer, oddly enough. It also can be used to track the movements of, of air masses by atmospheric scientists. In addition, the soil concentrations of radon which are naturally occurring, can be used to plot near surface fault lines and changes in those concentrations can often helps scientists predict earthquakes before they happen. Some people say that radon can be used to treat arthritis; so they'll go and take baths in radon concentrated waters. However, this is a highly debated and there are many sources that say that there is no safe concen; or no safe concentration for radon exposure. So I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. This has been a brief discussion of the uses of radon."