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I'm not sure I understand the question. By dense, do you mean high atomic mass or high concentration in da house? By leaking out, do you mean from the ground or from the closed room?

On the longer run, BTW, the problem is not radon itself with its short half-life but its (not inert gas) breakdown products, which stick to dust particles (and cigarette smoke, hence the enhanced cancer rate in combination IIRC).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Thu Mar 31st, 2011 at 06:16:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by dense I mean it weighs a lot per unit volume, and hence tends to sink.

by leaking out, I mean from the ground.

my point is really that the concentration of radon should be roughly uniform inside and outside, because it is being provided and decayed at the same rate.

I didn't realise the connection to cigarettes.

by njh on Thu Mar 31st, 2011 at 06:41:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The volume of air per square meter of ground depends on how high your ceiling is. As ceilings go, the troposphere/stratosphere boundary is pretty high.

And as far as the higher density goes, it does increase the ground-level partial pressure (and thus the concentration per cubic meter) in equilibrium. But the troposphere is not in equilibrium - there is rather significant convection.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Thu Mar 31st, 2011 at 06:57:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by dense I mean it weighs a lot per unit volume, and hence tends to sink.

Ading to JakeS: you do mean atomic weight in the end (radon mass per unit volume at a given air pressure depends on concentration). But it is actually true that radon can concentrate in 'poodles' due to stratification of still air (in a basement or mine).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Thu Mar 31st, 2011 at 07:46:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"radon can concentrate in 'poodles'"


A victim, yesterday.

by LondonAnalytics (Andrew Smith) on Thu Mar 31st, 2011 at 09:40:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't know what other definition of density there is apart from molecular weight, for gases.  I think you are confusing with concentration.

I'll leave the poodles for LondonAnalytics.

by njh on Fri Apr 1st, 2011 at 06:30:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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