I came up with this question right after I wanted to take apart a microwave to see why it wasn't heating anything before I remembered that that's a very, VERY bad idea
I came up with this question right after I wanted to take apart a microwave to see why it wasn't heating anything before I remembered that that's a very, VERY bad idea
Ionization chamber smoke detectors have a tiny grain of Americium in them, which is radioactive. However, the radiation is almost entirely alpha particles which are relatively low risk as they don't penetrate skin particularly well.
They are also still sold, though you should buy the other kind (which use light beams instead) because they're significantly better at their jobs.
They're low risk unless you ingest them, because then they're hitting internal organs directly.
Also if you pool the Americium from 100 detectors together they become pretty dangerous.
Ahhhh gold old nuclear boyscout...