How do Smoke Detectors Work
Вставка
- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- →Subscribe for new videos every day! bit.ly/todayifo...
→Why Do Superheroes Wear Their Underwear on the Outside?: bit.ly/1Ow7J0K
Never run out of things to say at the water cooler with TodayIFoundOut! Brand new videos 7 days a week!
More from Today I Found Out:
Who was the Real Mother Goose?
bit.ly/1KmiHHE
Why Toilet Paper is White
bit.ly/1SE87uL
Why Superheroes Wear Their Underwear On The Outside
bit.ly/1HLvFLb
In this video:
At their core, smoke alarms are very simple devices that need only two functions: a way of detecting smoke and a way of alerting people to the problem. From new technology involving lasers to old world technology that relies on a lonely individual sitting in a tower on the side of a mountain just waiting to see smoke, all do the same thing in different ways. The two most commonly used smoke alarms (mainly because they are inexpensive) are photoelectric and ionization detector alarms.
Want the text version?
www.todayifound...
Resources/Further Reading:
home.howstuffwo...
chemistry.about...
www.epa.gov/rad...
www.systemsenso...
www.nfpa.org/ca...
en.wikipedia.or...
Image Credit (Thank you)
simplisafe.com/...
upload.wikimedi...
upload.wikimedi...
Americans usually call 911 when they have a dangerous situation in their home, such as a fire. But how did "911" become the phone number for emergency services in America? Check out this related video and find out:
ua-cam.com/video/zBzgp1JfAeY/v-deo.html
This is what my dad uses to tell me when dinners ready
I don't get the jo-
OH WAIT
nice 👌
Nice and crispy
tasty
THATS EVIL
Americium-241 in most smoke detectors have an activity of about < 37 kBq (37,000 decays/sec) or 1 microcurie (1 µCi) per source. For this isotope in particular, that amounts to ~290 nanograms. That's extremely tiny. It can be detected by Geiger counters/scintillation detectors. It depends on the detector type and sensitivity. The sources used are called "sealed sources". This means the radiation can escape, but not the radioactive material, which is what you want. The alpha particles (Helium-4 nuclei) are highly ionizing (5.486 MeV), yet this makes them less penetrating. Your outer skin easily shields it. Alpha can only travel a few cm in air, until they become stable Helium-4 atoms. But, there are some gamma rays emitted from Am-241, the most common energy being at 59.9 keV. This is in the low-energy gamma region. The intensity at which this gamma is emitted is about 36%. For comparison, Plutonium-239 is also an alpha emitter (used in some old Soviet smoke detectors, at higher activities). Pu-239 is a nearly pure alpha source (5.186 MeV), unlike Am-241 and even Am-243. The most common gamma from Pu-239 is at 51.3 keV. This is a low-energy gamma ray too. The intensity at which this gamma is emitted is only about 0.02%. This makes most Pu isotopes harder to detect and identify than Am isotopes. Even if you remove the sealed source, just keep it intact. Don't scratch or grind the active area (which is Am-241 dioxide pressed between gold foil, retained, and housed in an aluminum holder). That can be hazardous in the future if you ingest it, especially inhalation. It's not lethal. Externally, the dose is very low. Don't fear an ionizing smoke detector, even if you are afraid of radioactive materials. I study this area of science, and radioactivity is fascinating! I've done it for many years now! There's a lot of fear attached to radioactivity, when in reality, it's usually just ignorance, misunderstandings, and/or paranoia. Plutonium and Americium are very similar elements, including their chemistry too. Even the danger of Plutonium is highly exaggerated. Glenn T. Seaborg said it himself in an interview, and he's right! Each isotope has its own unique "fingerprint". That is energies, half-life, activity, type of decay, decay products (stable or not), intensities, etc.
In my last apartment (1200 sq ft) there were no less than 6 smoke detectors, one of which was also a carbon monoxide detector because it was in the utility room that had a connecting door to a garage. It was also the only one that had been disconnected by the complex. Go figure.
You helped me with my physics gcse thank you
Today I Found Out that channel called Today I Found Out exist on youtube Today!
I'm just tryna smoke in my dorm room lmao
carter west I FEEL THAT
Can you smoke wit it on, does it ever go off?
@@alexfernandez820 it never goes off if your using a bong and a smoke buddy
"The small amount of radiation found in the device is harmless"
Yes tell me more about the radioactive boy scout
When kept in its origin housing and not removed to create a orphaned source, such as the boy scout did it's very harmless.
Keep in mind the boy scout not only removed the source of just one smoke detector, but also that of hundreds, and other items also.
These items includes confining thorium salts from lantern mantles. Scraping the paint off old luminescent clocks to confine radium baring paints, and a few other sources collected from old devices and vintage science kits.
0:49 We have those fire alarms at school : red roshni siren sounders and white Apollo s60's and s65's.
Modern smoke alarms actually alarm when the battery is getting flat. This eliminates the need to change batteries every 6 months especially when that batteries actually last about 5-6 years. The ones we have even have mains backup, making 6 monthly replacement a get rich quick scheme for battery manufacturers.
The stupid thing is that these new alarms have the battery sealed in, so you can't shut the damn thing up when it decides to randomly scream at you at 3AM
@@LoganT547 Well none of the ones I've seen have a sealed in battery, you remove them from the ceiling, open a small hatch and the battery drops out
Wowzers usually i make my best quick attempt to come up with why or how relating to the subject of these videos and im usually a little right, lacking the immense level of detail. This time i can say i was way out of the ballpark, nowhere close. Favorite from this channel so far, this was straight up brain candy.
Dave Perkins Thanks Dave!
i removed the battery of the smoke detector in one of the practice rooms at my school, now i can smoke when i'm practicing piano 😼
Following smoke alarms seen. Either a Kidde i9030 i9050 or p9050. FireX FADC. Kidde P9040 or 0946. Either a BRK/First Alert SC9120B or 9120B. First Alert SA67D. Either a Kidde 1275, 1285 or PE120 being installed.
035 That is not a smoke detector and it doesn't in any way detect smoke or react to anything that detects smoke. It works very simply and reliable. The re3d thing is a plug that will prevent water from leaking out basically forever. It is designed to melt at a relatively low temperature, higher than anything normally expected, but lower than anything a fire might create. When it melts it falls out letting the water flow.
In this way an entire system can be used and only those sprinklers that have a chance of extinguishing the fire will be activated. This is done to limit any water damage that might take place because both building owners and insurgence companies have very strong motivation to limit any damage cause by a fire or from fighting that fire.
Eric Taylor swift and the most important thing is to get to the bottom of the page to see if I can get to be the most popular with you too many times and the most important thing is to get to the bottom of the page to see if I can get to be the most popular with you too many times and the most important thing is to get to the bottom of the page to see if I can get to be the most popular with you too many times and the most important thing is to get to the bottom of the page to see if I can get to be the most popular with you too
Awesome video
Can you release all these as a podcast somewhere?
UL has determined that ionization smoke alarms aren't reliable & don't provide an adequate, early fire warning. Therefore the UL 217, 8th edition standard for smoke alarms is preferred for early warning in 2023. ULs website has more details.
Thank you for the video
I really needed that superhero advice! XD
You used a sprinkler as a smoke detector 0:35
They detect heat
A D yes
They are so sensitive to heat. The warmth of the smoke is warm enough to melt the object blocking the water
No, it isn't. First of all, the element does not melt, it bursts or explodes. Second, that sprinkler is rated to go off at 155 degrees farenheit .Smoke CAN NOT set off a fire sprinkler.
Does it even matter?
Can we tell smoke detectors NOT go off when cooking bacon?
Your smoke detector is too close to the kitchen
Simon? Is that you?
LOL, the "smoke detector" in the thumbnail is actually a heat detector.
Make video on DPITC of fire detection system please
Wezzy F. Baby! Lol
jtyrellv IN THE HOUSE
Put the (used but still good) smoke alarm batteries in your alarm clocks.
You dickhead Alarm clocks use AA batteries
They will way too big(9 Volts) and alarm clocks use just AA batteries
Do they trigger from cigarette smoke?
Covering the smoke detector it could trigger the alarm?
Some of these people are trying to figure out how to make a dirty bomb
One of those shots is of a sprinkler head, not a detector.
Fire sprinklers save lifes
Fire maintenance is there anything is fire accurate in building
I have this but it looks it is usefull
I have the photocell and radiation one put together
Talk about a smoking topic. Oh look, view 777, I win the jackpot.
I can’t get to sleep cuz mine keeps goin on
If it ever goes off for no reason or even just randomly that can often mean it could be faulty
A very slight chirp sound will indicate that the Battery must be changed
My fire alarm is goin off randomly
If it goes off frequently and for no reason it would indicate a fault
they tend to go off when there is cooking or even showers, BUT do not go off in fires, at least First Alert. We had 16 FA alarms during a fire NONE went off. Waste of money
You idiot,showers do not set off a Smoke Detector
If the smoke alarm is too close to the shower or kitchen, per instructions, it'll false alarm. Ionization types commonly do this. Consider smoke alarms that meet the updated UL 217, 8th edition standard & read up on it. UL no longer approves of obsolete, unreliable ionization technology to detect smoke for life safety.
I need more visual, I don't understand 😫
Do smoke detectors give off radon gas?
Who else is high asf and still don’t know how this works
"Ameritzium 241"? Don't you mean Americium 241?
in
I need dis type of detectors how much
Was really hoping for this to get straight to the point
What if smoke detectors didn’t need batteries, they just used house pwr and had a small battery as a backup
You just explained a hardwired smoke detector
:P u showed a roshni sounder
Detecting smewk
Haw much degree sence smoke detecter (gent panel)
Americium, not Ameritsium. Give America some credit; we're not so bad, are we? ;)
Why do you show things in your video that have nothing to do with what you're talking about?
I have smoke detectors in my house and I do not like the sound of them lel
Same i u i there scarry uwu
2:52 thats how far i made.couldnt understand shit
4:22 #Thingsthatlooklikefaces
Why do smoke detectors go yellow
do u clean them
No
D.i.y Al probably why
It could be the plastic is madeacrylonitrile butadiene styrene and it is flammable. They add a fire retardant that contains bromine.
UV light causes the retardant to break down and release bromine.
louis tournas my house uses a fully wired system. i believe we use
System Sensor 2400 smoke detectors. They are yellowish/brownish.
Hi
Jesus Martinez Hi
bich i still don’t understand 😴
is is so so so boring
gaan gimana cara pemasangan smoke detector albox ke acp dsc
FIRST