Click2Flicks - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>INDIANA JONES and the<br> KINGDOM of the CRYSTAL SKULL</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 3 - RADIATION SICKNESS</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Nuclear bombs produce “<a target="_blank" href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jmoilane/nuclear/Fallout.html"><b>radioactive fallout</b></a>.” Early pioneers in x-ray technology - many of whom were <a target="_blank" href="images/injured_courtesy_national.archives.jpg"><b>injured</b></a> or died - experienced what happens when a person is <a target="_blank" href="http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/03/01/nuclear.fallout/index.html"><b>exposed to</b></a> harmful levels of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nucleartourist.com/systems/rad.htm"><b>radiation</b></a>.  So did the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87ONMdy1Nh8"><b>people</b></a> of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_1KcXljVIg"><b>Chernobyl</b></a>,  and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0KduXGjKnw"><b>their neighbors</b></a>,  who still <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4GvMOsiJQs"><b>live with</b></a> the fallout <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYNgIgl-MuE"><b>effects</b></a> of a failed nuclear reactor. (These links are video clips from the BBC’s program, <i>Fallout from Chernobyl</i>.) </p> <p>What causes <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/r/04280.html"><b>radiation sickness</b></a>?  Radiation is <a target="_blank" href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/nuclear/radrisk.html"><b>emitted</b></a> when the unstable nuclei of atoms decay and release particles. When those particles touch organic material (like human tissue), damage can occur. Whether there actually is damage depends on how much radiation has reached living tissue.</p> <p>When human beings are <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgjWUY7qCJs"><b>exposed to radiation</b></a> (this 1970s-era BBC video warns how to avoid it), the dosage measurement is called "rem" which stands for “roentgen equivalent in man.” It represents the amount of radiation needed to damage living tissue.</p> <p>Total body exposure above 100 rems causes radiation sickness, although smaller doses may produce detectable levels in human blood. As the rems increase, so do the symptoms and the extent of <a target="_blank" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/medical_notes/461921.stm"><b>the illness</b></a>.  An exposure of 450 roentgens <a target="_blank" href="http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/radiation_effects_body.html"><b>has caused</b></a> radiation sickness and death in half the individuals measured. A person exposed to 100,000 rems could be dead in an hour.</p> <p>What are the symptoms of radiation sickness? Smaller doses produce nausea and vomiting initially, then headaches and some loss of white blood cells. (White blood cells, or <a target="_blank" href="http://www.hon.ch/Library/Theme/Allergy/Glossary/wbc.html"><b>leukocytes</b></a>,  help the body’s immune system fight infection.) Three hundred rems, or more, cause temporary hair loss and internal injuries to nerve cells and digestive-lining cells. Besides the leukocyte problem, radiation exposure can also reduce the body’s ability to produce <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fi.edu/learn/heart/blood/platelet.html"><b>platelets</b></a>, which help the blood to clot. Victims of radiation sickness are therefore prone to hemorrhaging. Doses of 800 rems, or more, are always fatal.</p> <p>When nuclear weapons were first produced, scientists did not fully appreciate the extent of the danger people could face from atomic power. Even when the evidence became clear, the government <a target="_blank" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1029925633034771721"><b>continued to test</b></a> atomic weapons, including at sea.</p> <p>In the 1950s and 60s, American adults were not alone in worrying about a Soviet nuclear attack. Their children were increasingly exposed to the threat from government-created “civil defense” films. Let’s take a look at some of the more famous “duck and cover” clips. </p> </div> <center> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="indiana_jones_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>  <a href="indiana_jones_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>  <a href="indiana_jones_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</p><br> </a> </font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align="center" valign="top"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.awesomestories.com/includes/ad_format.js"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>