XRF and Litvinenko

I was reading about this recent conflict in western Asia (not Middle East which the average stupid, ignorant, calls it!) and it somehow was redirected to the role of Russia and then how the Russian government kills, assassinates (same thing!), silences and kidnaps or exiles its opponents and critics. The story continued with the strange death of a former FSB * officer, Alexander Litvinenko in Britain back in 2006 and then pointed at a scientific fact which I had read about during my XRF certification studies. I think it would be interesting to say it here:
XRF is a method (an NDE) of analyzing the elements of a material and their percentage: What a material is composed of and what percentage of each element could have a significant effect on its characteristics and performance. For example Nickel (Ni) is added to Steel to prevent oxidation. This is generally between 8 and 10 percent. If a corrosion-resistance material is ordered and does not have MTR or the provided one does not look authentic, XRF comes to assist to see whether the right amount of Ni exists or not. 
Next I briefly discuss how is XRF generated. XRF is generated by the way of radiation. We need to know what ionization means so then we get to these two types of radiation:

• Ionizing radiation.
• Non-ionizing radiation.

Ionization happens when an atom loses or receives an electron. It's a negative ion if it receives an electron, of course, and it's a positive ion if it loses an electron. With that in mind, it is needed to say that non-ionizing radiation, although could cause burns, is not so harmful to the body. Examples of non-ionizing radiation would be light, cosmic light, microwaves and radio waves. Ionizing radiation, on the other hand, could be quite dangerous. In order to see the level of risk when exposed to such radiation, first we need to understand the different types of ionizing radiation. They are:

• Alpha particles (α),

• Beta particles (β),

• Neutron particles, and

• X-Ray or Gamma Ray.

This diagram shows how different types of ionizing radiation travel and how they could be stopped

Describing what kind of radiation each of the above ones are, helps to get closer to the answer:

Alpha particles consist of two Protons and two Neutrons. For that they have +2 charge and they are heavy. It means that it cannot travel more than 1 to 2 inches (25.4 to 50,8 mm) in the air, lose most of their energy and stop after that distance is reached. Alpha particles could be stopped by a piece of paper or the outer layer of skin but if they are inhaled or ingested, they could be harmful and detrimental. 

Beta particles have higher energy and travel faster because they are lighter. They have a negative charge and  travel up to 10 feet (a little more than 3 meters). They also are emitted from the nucleus of certain radioactive atoms. They could be stopped by a layer of a few millimeters of plastic, glass or metal foil.

Neutron particles are the next strong ionizing particles but we're not going further. 

When Litvinenko was first hospitalized, he showed some early symptoms of food poisoning:

• Nausea and vomiting,

• Extreme fatigue and weakness,

• Diarrhea,

• Headache and confusion,

When the illness progresses, other signs start to emerge after a week:

• Immune system failure. At this stage a rapid drop in White Blood Cells leads to the body being completely vulnerable.
  Increase risk of internal and external bleeding. This is due to loss of platelets. Platelet helps with clothing. 
  Hair loss. This also starts to happen despite the fact that Alpha particles do not affect the victims through the skin. This was seen in Litvinenko's appearance. A symptom completely different from food poisoning. That baffled the physicians at the time.  

The severity of these symptoms depends heavily on the dose but how Alpha particles reached Litvinenko's body is the next question. Polonium 210 which is the source of Alpha particles radiation is assumed to be brought to the country (Britain) easily by a Russian assassin. It could be simply put in checked-in baggage, wrapped in a piece of paper. There would be no way to detect that and no harm to anyone, neither the assassin nor the security personnel in Russia and Britain. Then slipped into his beverage or food and waited for the slow but effective reaction. First signs of food poisoning, as described above and then other signs and symptoms which refute the theory of food poisoning. He was gone by the end of the third week. 

The above theory is what was concluded after autopsy had been performed and investigations had taken place but no one was ever charged and prosecuted for this crime. 

X-Ray radiation which is the fundamentals of XRF has more energy, travels faster and longer. We leave it here because we just wanted to see the way that the former agent was assassinated scientifically. The part that does not make me angry with the Russian Government and whoever pulled this off is once you work for one side and you go to another side, you betray your country and you automatically are a traitor. Traitors deserve death and in this case a very painful death. He deserve it more than Robert Levinson did. He only acted as an spy, he was not a traitor.

* FSB is the Federal Security Service organization of the Russian Federation which has its root in KGB of the Soviet time.

(Photo: Litvinenko's grave in a London cemetery. He is buried far away from his birthplace of the town of Voronezh)