Recent comments in /f/askscience

GyozaGangsta t1_j83fbcm wrote

Reply to comment by RebelWithoutAClue in Can the Radiation from a Sample of Depleted Uranium Sterilize? by Natolx

In healthcare in America, we have a goal of sterility assurance to 10^-6 log reduction per AAMI standards but most IFU’s for devices set by manufacturers go for even tighter, some devices go beyond the 10^-9 but the trade off is damage to the device due to long exposure.

Part of the reason healthcare is so expensive is processing sterile instruments and replacing them fairly regularly, (a big push for single use disposable items is happening as a result but is also wasteful and expensive, but saves time on reprocessing)

Lastly a fun fact about steam sterilization, if you could fit the entire planet in a saturated steam sterilizer and ran it at 273 Fahrenheit for like 15 minute it would theoretically kill every thing on Earth. Nothing would survive. (Or it would be like .0000000000000001 survival)

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