I have at my home a smoke detector
that is 27 years old. Would it have been possible for
the alpha recoil to have caused the seal over the
radiation to break down over time as I read online this
could happen. I worry that if the seal broken then the
americium could have leaked out. Also, after 27 years
would the americium sample need a leak test?
I had read this about a 1970's detector on an
internet q&a site:
question
&
answer.
It really worried me so much. Basically they were saying
that the yellow colour of the dust around the ionisation
chamber vents was caused by the gold seal around the
Americium source being destroyed by alpha recoil or else
the Americium ions being a yellow colour and the
Americium leaking out or they even suggested decayed
Neptunium could have been the cause. However you have
never seen this alpha recoil happen in a smoke detector
with less radiation like mine and I also thought maybe
because my smoke detector was so old that the seal
around the source could have leaked. Can age cause the
seal around the source to be destroyed more by alpha
recoil? Is there any visible way of knowing that the
smoke detector isn't leaking- ie colour of the dust (it
was grey/brown in mine)? I worry as I was cleaning the
inside of the detector when changing the battery and was
touching the ionisation chamber?