Everyday Use
Ionization-type smoke detectors are gaseous ionization detectors in widespread use. A small source of radioactive americium is placed so that it maintains a current between two plates that effectively form an ionisation chamber. If smoke gets between the plates where ionization is taking place, the ionized gas can be neutralized leading to a reduced current. The decrease in current triggers a fire alarm.
Read more about this topic: Gaseous Ionization Detectors
Famous quotes containing the word everyday:
““... You could sit there with the stains on your shoes
Of the fresh earth from your own baby’s grave
And talk about your everyday concerns.
You had stood the spade up against the wall
Outside there in the entry, for I saw it.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“A really tight friendship is when you start to really care about the person. If he gets sick, you kind of start worrying about him—or if he gets hit by a car. An everyday friend, you say, I know that kid, he’s all right, and you don’t really think much of him. But a close friend you worry about more than yourself. Well, maybe not more, but about the same.”
—Anonymous Fifteen-Year-Old Boy. As quoted in Children’s Friendships by Zick Rubin, ch. 3 (1980)