Radioactive gases in plasma displays? Not so much.

Here's a twist on the "Nigerian scam." A Nigerian newspaper is reporting that the manager of LG's Nigerian branch, a Mr. Tae-Joon Park, said plasma sets "...have short life spans because of the radioactive half-life of the gases they use." We couldn't make this up -- go ahead and follow the read links for yourself. Sounds like Mr. Park got the brightness "half life" mixed up with radioactive "half life." We're sure all EHD readers know that there's absolutely no truth to this, but we'll clarify: plasmas are filled with xenon and neon. And as we remember from high school chemistry, those are "noble," inert gases. No radioactivity here, and no amount of sitting in front of our plasmas will grow that third arm we need to complete our "snacks, drink, remote" trifecta!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 6th 2007 1:13PM]

Actually there are many radioactive isotopes of xenon and neon. In particular xenon-127 and xenon-133�are commonly used in medicine. These isotopes are used to study the flow of blood through the brain and the flow of air through the lungs.

[JDM Posted Oct 7th 2007 1:35AM]

"Inert" or "noble gas" only refers to chemical properties. Radioactivity is nuclear, not chemistry.

Here are lists of isotopes of the two elements, stable and unstable:
http://ie.lbl.gov/education/parent/Ne_iso.htm
http://ie.lbl.gov/education/parent/Xe_iso.htm

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 7th 2007 2:34AM]

@1sg, @JeffDM -- true, true guys. Fact of the matter is that plasma
displays don't rely on radioactive gases to work -- imagine what
they'd cost if they did!