Short: The Banana equivalent dose (of radioactivity).
Did you know that...Bananas are radioactive?
I mean, nothing to worry about.
But the fact here is that, in informal contexts, we make use of the so-called banana equivalent dose.
It establishes an intuitive relationship between a given dose of radiation and that absorbed by eating a banana.
Although a single banana has negligible medical effects, the radioactivity of a large shipment of bananas, similar to other commonly used materials such as cat litter or some ceramics, can set off the alarm of radioactivity scanners.
For this reason, bananas also involve radiation exposure even when not ingested.
But what's radioactive in a banana?
The major natural source of radioactivity in plant tissue is potassium: 0.0117% of the naturally occurring potassium is the unstable isotope potassium-40, which decays.
Other foods rich in potassium include potatoes, kidney beans, sunflower seeds, and nuts.
#InsaneCuriosity #banana #shorts