Stupid writers
Apr. 27th, 2017 04:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kengrOn Criminal Minds tonight they they had someone poisoning people with an "irradiated poison".
I was willing to accept that, though it was kinda silly. and it apparently *swiftly* (like within a couple of minutes) induced symptoms of a heart attack. Then, besides radiation poisoning it was cause multiple organ failures. The radiation was short half-life so it was "harmless" with in a day or two.
Turns out the perp had been stealing the stuff for six years or so from various hospitals radio-medicine units.
Which just plain *doesn't work*.
If it has that short a half-life it'd not be capable of causing radiation poisoning within *days* after it was stolen.
Also, nothing these used for radio-medicine is *remotely* that toxic. Nor would it do the "induce a heart attack" bit.
Also, they evacuated a neighborhood because the perp had dumped some down a sink. Yet at the same time, the perp who *worked* with this stuff and thus knew how to safely handle it, carried a container around in her *pocket*
Basically, if it can be safely carried in a pocket, even for a short time, it winding up in the sewer isn't a big deal.
So, essentially, the writers did *no* research.
I was willing to accept that, though it was kinda silly. and it apparently *swiftly* (like within a couple of minutes) induced symptoms of a heart attack. Then, besides radiation poisoning it was cause multiple organ failures. The radiation was short half-life so it was "harmless" with in a day or two.
Turns out the perp had been stealing the stuff for six years or so from various hospitals radio-medicine units.
Which just plain *doesn't work*.
If it has that short a half-life it'd not be capable of causing radiation poisoning within *days* after it was stolen.
Also, nothing these used for radio-medicine is *remotely* that toxic. Nor would it do the "induce a heart attack" bit.
Also, they evacuated a neighborhood because the perp had dumped some down a sink. Yet at the same time, the perp who *worked* with this stuff and thus knew how to safely handle it, carried a container around in her *pocket*
Basically, if it can be safely carried in a pocket, even for a short time, it winding up in the sewer isn't a big deal.
So, essentially, the writers did *no* research.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-27 01:21 pm (UTC)Didn't see the episode. Was the stuff in the pocket in a container?
If the radiation is primarily alpha particles, those are dangerous only if they contact living cells. That's why you can hold plutonium in your hand safely (it feels warm, depending on the isotope) but breathing the dust can cause cancer. The layer of dead skin on the outside of your body stops the alpha particles.
Yeah, though. This is a return to the "luminous toxin" of 1950's _D.O.A._
no subject
Date: 2017-04-27 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-04-27 05:42 pm (UTC)Obviously they were trying for "lets make it even nastier" without a clue about how radiation and toxins work in the real world.