BILLINGS - The students in honors chemistry at Billings Senior High School have been busy learning about something that you can’t see, hear, or touch— but it can kill.
“Before we learned about radon, I had no idea that it even existed, to be honest,” says sophomore Owen Webber- Dereszynski.
Radon is a radioactive gas that is naturally released in rocks, soil, and water. Chemistry teacher Craig Beals knew it was present here in our area but was shocked when he saw just how high some of the levels really are.
A few years back, he received a grant to buy equipment to test for radon and began sending students out to check the levels in their own homes.
“In 2016, the first year I sent the equipment home with students and they started to bring back the data from their homes, I was floored. I thought the machines were broken because it was so high,” he says.
Anything above a level four on the machine is considered dangerous. Beals says almost all of the tests were coming back between three and ten.
“Really high numbers of radon,” he says.
And that’s where the danger comes in because radon can work its way out of the ground and into the air of your home, especially basements, creating health problems over time.
“If we breathe it and it gives off its radioactive particle—I call it a little mini bullet—it can hit things in your lungs and damage your lung. You end up with cancers, you end up with lung diseases and a lot of respiratory issues,” Beals says.
Beals has used the data collected from his students over the years to make this interactive map to monitor levels here in Billings.
“We’re finding out things that nobody has ever known. We are collecting radon samples in lots of places all around town to find out where there is elevated concentrations, and there’s no other place you can go to find that information,” Beals says.
The good news is that the solution to lowering those levels can sometimes be as simple as opening a window or using a special radon pump that you can buy at a hardware store. A professional may need to be called in if levels are very high.
As part of their capstone project, students are also working to get the word out about radon. They’ve beensending out surveys to raise awareness and gather even more information.
“I hope that with our outreach we can inform people, especially homeowners, about the dangers of radon and the effective ways that they can mitigate it in their homes,” says sophomore Dason Wilson.
“I think people need to realize that it can be dangerous. It’s the number two killer for lung cancer, right behind smoking,” says Webber-Dereszynski.
For more information about Radon, click here.
