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The puzzling meaning and origin of the radiation sign
One of the most recognizable warning symbols around is far less ominous than an image of a skull and crossbones, but it’s nowhere near as easy to understand.
If you know what the ionizing radiation warning sign means at all, it may only be through pop culture references.
Despite being used worldwide to indicate radioactive danger, it has been internationally misinterpreted as signifying anything from propellers, to warnings of electricity, AIDS, toxins or even road hazards.
The sign reads like any other yellow sign that denotes “caution” rather than “run as fast as you can!”.
So in hopes of minimizing civilian radiation accidents, the International Atomic Energy Agency developed a new sign in 2007 that would supplement the existing black and yellow sign, with a design that is undoubtedly more alarming.
But as it stands, the propeller blades will still be the official warning symbol for radioactive material.
It’s been debated whether the original sign was ever even intended for public use in the first place,
In 1946, a time when scientists were only beginning to understand the risks and effects of radioactive substances on the human body, one of the engineers at UC Berkeley’s Radiation Lab, Cyrill Orly, was asked to design a symbol that would communicate the presence of ionizing radiation in the laboratory.
Here is the first sign he ever made.
Recalling the small cloud chambers that burst forth from the radioactive particles he had assembled earlier, Orly thought that those images would be a good representation of “activity radiating from an atom.”
Initially, he chose the magenta-like roman violet for the symbol because it was a very distinctive color that didn’t conflict with other, already familiar color-coded systems. Since the ink for this precise color was also very expensive, it was thought that they price tag might deter people from using it on other designs in the future.
He also chose sky blue as the background color because blue wasn’t very common in areas where radioactive work was conducted.
Later on, other labs started using yellow as the background color when people recognized that blue doesn’t denote “warning” very well and tended to fade outdoors.
And by the late 50s, the yellow and magenta version was federally codified and became the official, internationally-recognized radiation warning symbol.
Since then, black has also become a federally permitted substitute for the color magenta, and has actually become the most widely used.
Hopefully, now that the meaning of the propeller blades is much clearer to you, you’ll take heed of those invisible rays.
I remember seeing this with “Fallout Shelter” under it around town, growing up. Asking my mother what it was, she always said “I don’t know” and changed the subject.
Mom had a terrible game face. She knew. She just never told.
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2aMS8LM
via IFTTT
The puzzling meaning and origin of the radiation sign
One of the most recognizable warning symbols around is far less ominous than an image of a skull and crossbones, but it’s nowhere near as easy to understand.
If you know what the ionizing radiation warning sign means at all, it may only be through pop culture references.
Despite being used worldwide to indicate radioactive danger, it has been internationally misinterpreted as signifying anything from propellers, to warnings of electricity, AIDS, toxins or even road hazards.
The sign reads like any other yellow sign that denotes “caution” rather than “run as fast as you can!”.
So in hopes of minimizing civilian radiation accidents, the International Atomic Energy Agency developed a new sign in 2007 that would supplement the existing black and yellow sign, with a design that is undoubtedly more alarming.
But as it stands, the propeller blades will still be the official warning symbol for radioactive material.
It’s been debated whether the original sign was ever even intended for public use in the first place,
In 1946, a time when scientists were only beginning to understand the risks and effects of radioactive substances on the human body, one of the engineers at UC Berkeley’s Radiation Lab, Cyrill Orly, was asked to design a symbol that would communicate the presence of ionizing radiation in the laboratory.
Here is the first sign he ever made.
Recalling the small cloud chambers that burst forth from the radioactive particles he had assembled earlier, Orly thought that those images would be a good representation of “activity radiating from an atom.”
Initially, he chose the magenta-like roman violet for the symbol because it was a very distinctive color that didn’t conflict with other, already familiar color-coded systems. Since the ink for this precise color was also very expensive, it was thought that they price tag might deter people from using it on other designs in the future.
He also chose sky blue as the background color because blue wasn’t very common in areas where radioactive work was conducted.
Later on, other labs started using yellow as the background color when people recognized that blue doesn’t denote “warning” very well and tended to fade outdoors.
And by the late 50s, the yellow and magenta version was federally codified and became the official, internationally-recognized radiation warning symbol.
Since then, black has also become a federally permitted substitute for the color magenta, and has actually become the most widely used.
Hopefully, now that the meaning of the propeller blades is much clearer to you, you’ll take heed of those invisible rays.
I remember seeing this with “Fallout Shelter” under it around town, growing up. Asking my mother what it was, she always said “I don’t know” and changed the subject.
Mom had a terrible game face. She knew. She just never told.
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2aMS8LM
via IFTTT
