xkcd has taught us that it is ok to swim in a local municipal nuclear 'spent fuel' cooling pool as long as we don't practise holding our breath next to the rods.

Is there a way of using the radioactive dropoff to produce a paint additive that will nuke anything trying to bury itself in the paint but keep macro distances to just a nice warming affect?

I'm thinking any DNA stuck in close proximity will become holey. Good for antifoulling , south/north sided buildings and little nooks that are needed to be kept pristine.

Something energetic but short lived over a small distance should suffice.

But then again, There's that eternal battle of colloid suspension and the ramifications radioactivity will bring.
-- wjt, Apr 15 2017

xkcd 29 https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/
Scale, it's all about the scale. [wjt, Apr 15 2017]

I love that site (+) for the idea.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 15 2017


I agree, a wonderful comic strip. But I think as structured, this is not an idea that meets the extremely flexible standards of the Halfbakery, but a question.
-- normzone, Apr 15 2017


I think it comes close to being an idea. The idea to which it comes close is "Paint ships' bottoms with a radioisotope that will not leach into the water, and whose radiation will not penetrate either the hull or a significant thickness of water, yet will kill marine life growing on the hull."
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 15 2017


I'm sorry, that my knowledge of radiochemistry has a reading of about 1.26 mSv/a so can't fill in the detail necessary.
-- wjt, Apr 15 2017


wow, this completely reminds me of a previous idea for atomic batteries.

have an alpha emitter (alpha particles are blockable with a sheet of paper) coated with the dry version of an ultrahygroscopic polymer. if it breaks or leaks then water suddenly puffs the coating, making it thicker than paper, thus blocking the alpha radiation from bothering someone chewing on the battery.

as a typical atomic battery it just uses warmth and thermoelectrics to make electricity.

also, there is a way to print it so that it has a ;;;;;;::;:;::;: stochasticlly patterned mini bloblets of alpha emitter and stable isotope such that separating the radioactives from the stable isotopes would be tremendous effort yet it would still make warmth.

inkjet printers do 9600 dpi, so you would print the battery ;:;;;::;; on paper or polymer film, spool it up, and have a terrorism resistant, edible nuclear battery.
-- beanangel, Apr 17 2017


//a terrorism resistant, edible nuclear battery//

[Marked]. Not for anything particular, just [marked].
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 17 2017


Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch?
-- normzone, Apr 18 2017



random, halfbakery